IBBC values the experience and wisdom of advisory council members in guiding our insights and understanding of Iraq and contextualising international affairs. The appointment of two leading experts in the field of security and AI serve to strengthen our response to an increasingly uncertain world. Nathalie von Taaffe and Norman Ricklefs are prominent exponents in both the Middle East and international security:

Nathalie von Taaffe is a Managing Director, compliance executive, board member and senior advisor specialising in financial crime, trade and financial sanctions, cyber and national security across the global banking, legal, government, commodities and technology sectors.

Nathalie has over fifteen years of in-house experience leading financial crime and fraud programmes at major global banks — most recently Barclays, and previously the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Standard Bank and Credit Suisse — in roles spanning New York, London, Brussels, Hong Kong and Zürich.

Nathalie’s work has taken her deep into emerging and frontier markets, particularly across the commodities sector — energy, metals, minerals and renewables — including physical trade, trade finance and infrastructure. As a strong advocate of financial inclusion, she is committed to building more resilient, accessible financial systems across all countries, a thread that runs through her advisory work with banks, regulators and governments seeking to strengthen their own financial integrity frameworks.

Alongside traditional banking, Nathalie has long focused on technology, from fintech and crypto to artificial intelligence. She was one of the early participants in digital asset mining, has built blockchain and tokenised solutions at various institutions across her career, and has advised enterprise and government clients on the design and adoption of new technologies across these fields. Among her current mandates, she serves as Senior Advisor to a firm operating in the defence and technology sector, focusing on sanctions, cyber and national security.

As a UK- and US-qualified lawyer, Nathalie spent her early legal career in private practice at WilmerHale, within its white-collar defence and investigations group. Before that, she worked at various government institutions, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, the US House of Representatives and the German Bundestag.

Nathalie serves or has previously served in various board and advisory roles, including with the Syria Britain Business Council, UK Finance, the International Bar Association, the Swiss Bankers Association and the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce.

Dr Norman Ricklefs has worked in the Middle East for 25 years, and in Iraq for more than a decade.  He served in Iraq from 2005 to 2010 with the Australian and U.S. governments.  Dr Ricklefs served as a branch chief providing analytical support to the commanding general Coalition Forces during the period of national elections in 2005 through the period of sectarian civil war in 2006; then as political advisor to the Australian commanding general Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007; as advisor to the deputy head of the Iraqi Defence Ministry during the battle of  Basrah in 2008; and finally as senior advisor  to the Iraqi Minister of Interior from 2009-2010 during the period of transition as US forces withdrew from the cities and Iraq held its national election. In 2013 and 2014, Dr. Ricklefs served as advisor for National Security Architecture for the Libyan Prime Minister, on behalf of U.S. Embassy Tripoli. For his service in Iraq, Dr Ricklefs  was awarded the U.S. Department of Defence’s Outstanding Civilian Service medal, the US Department of Defence’s Commander’s Public Service medal and the Operational Service medal with clasp from the Australian Department of Defence.
In 2015, after returning from Libya, Dr Ricklefs established NAMEA Group, initially envisaged to be an advisory firm that focuses on the Arab and Islamic world, from Morocco to Indonesia, but which has now expanded in reach and scope.He is a member of Chatham House and an honorary associate of the department of History at Macquarie University.  Prior to his government service he taught history and philosophy at university level and worked as an archaeologist and historian – conducting fieldwork in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt and publishing on the Middle East during the Roman period. More recently he has published in the Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, History Today, Al Monitor, and the Journal of Military and Strategic Studies.

Both Nathalie and Norman participated in IBBC’s Cumberland Lodge briefing sessions in October ‘26 and Norman has been a regular on geopolitical panels within IBBC.

Christophe Michels, MD of IBBC says

“Norm Ricklefs is a long-standing friend of the IBBC and has over 20 years of extensive experience working in Iraq. He has contributed to many of our events over the years, and it is a pleasure to welcome him to our Advisory Council.

Nathalie von Taaffe is an internationally renowned financial expert who has held senior positions at some of the world’s leading financial institutions, specialising in financial crime, fraud, sanctions and anti-corruption. At a time when artificial intelligence is transforming the financial sector and Iraq has recently been added to the FATF grey list, her expertise and contribution to our work will be invaluable.’