Management
Aksel Movsisyan
Chief Executive Officer
Aksel has served as the CEO of Apricot Capital in the DIFC since the start of 2026. His focus is to bring operational effectiveness and compliance excellence to the firm, and into its relationships with clients and counterparties.
He has 20 years of experience in financial services, on an international scale, spanning the UAE, UK, and the CIS region. This includes 15 years with regulatory authorities (UAE DFSA, UK FCA, Central Bank of Armenia) and 5 years in the UK’s PwC and KPMG in the CIS, advising tier-one financial institutions in the UK, EU and Central Asia on matters related to risk management and regulatory compliance.
Aksel has an academic background in Economics, holds an MBA from Imperial College London and has diplomacy training from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. He has been living in the UAE since 2000, and is fluent in English, Armenian and Russian.
Yar Muhammad
Chief Finance Officer
Yar serves as the CFO at Apricot Capital in the DIFC and has been with the team since the start of the company in 2024. He manages the firm’s financial reporting, financial controls and reconciliations, regulatory submissions and treasury operations.
Since 2019, he has been authorized by the regulator (DFSA) to serve as a Finance Officer, which he did at a number of brokerage and investment management firms in the DIFC. Over the last 13 years in the UAE, Yar has accumulated strong experience in meeting regulatory, taxation and administrative requirements in the DIFC, ADGM and at the federal level.
Yar holds a degree in accounting, is a UAE Chartered Accountant and a certified member of the UK’s ACCA. He speaks English, Urdu and basic Arabic.
Inessa Melikjanyan
Deputy Compliance Officer and MLRO
Inessa has served as the Deputy Compliance Officer and MLRO at Apricot Capital in the DIFC since 2025. She works across conduct compliance, regulatory adherence, risk management, and operational resilience and continuity.
She brings over 6 years of experience with HSBC Group, focusing on AML investigations, financial crime, implementation of risk-based controls, as well as regulatory reporting and compliance. Inessa has a degree in Economics, and is fluent in English, French, Armenian and Russian.
Varduhi Hovhannisyan
Deputy Finance Officer
Varduhi has served as Deputy Finance Officer at Apricot Capital in the DIFC since 2026, supporting financial control, reporting, regulatory compliance and adherence to IFRS across the firm’s DIFC-regulated operations.
She has experience in accounting, financial reporting, VAT compliance and audit support across both corporate and non-profit sectors, with a strong focus on financial accuracy, internal controls and operational efficiency. Varduhi holds a degree in Economics and is fluent in English, French, Armenian and Russian.