H.E. Dr. Mohamed Khalfan bin Khirbash

Minister of State for Finance and Industry, Dubai

Dr. Kharbash is the UAE Minister of State for Finance and Industry.  He also serves as the Chairman of Dubai Islamic Bank and Emirates Industrial Bank, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Gulf Investment Corporation (Kuwait).  Dr. Kharbash graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Boston University and holds a PhD in Economics from Exeter University in the United Kingdom.

Sheikh Saleh Kamel

Chairman, Dallah Baraka Group

Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel is one of the prominent pioneers of Islamic economics and one of the founders of modern Islamic banking.

At the start of his career, his hopes were to see Islamic financial institutions as strong entities and a tangible reality that would compete with conventional financial institutions and not mere thoughts in the minds of researchers and theories tackled in books. He rather wanted to see them as a reality having positive and effective contributions in the process of economic development in the Islamic world. Therefore, he dedicated his life to realize this hope and he made it his noble mission.

He started his career by establishing a small firm providing postal services which rapidly developed into a business conglomerate i.e. Dallah AlBaraka Group, which is considered one of the leading Groups in the world, comprising of over 300 companies specializing in finance, banking, media, agriculture and industry with total assets exceeding US$ 12 billion and operating in more than 42 countries.

Sheikh Saleh A. Kamel has been honoured with many International awards and prizes that include “1996 Banker of the Year Award”, presented to him by the Union of Arab Banks, “1997 Annual Award of the Islamic Development Bank”, and an honorary Ph.D. in Media presented to him in 2003 from Lakehurst University, the United States.

Sheikh Saleh A. Kamel is the Chairman of the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (GCIBFI), which comprises of approximately 200 banks and financial institutions. He is also the Chairman of Dallah AlBaraka Holding Group.

Prof Rifaat Abdel Karim

Secretary General, Islamic Financial Services Board

Rifaat Abdel Karim is the Secretary-General of the Islamic Financial Services Board. Prior to his current position, Professor Rifaat was the Secretary-General of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), a post he held for more than 8 years. He is a member of the Standards Advisory Council of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), and a member of the Consultative Advisory Group of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.

Professor Rifaat has been Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey (UK) since 1996, where he co-supervises a number of post-graduate research students on various aspects of Islamic banking and finance. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Association of International Accountants (UK). Previously, he held academic positions at Gezira University (Sudan) and Kuwait University. He holds a B.Sc. from Khartoum University (Sudan), a Master Degree of Social Sciences from Birmingham University (UK), and a PhD from Bath University (UK), all in accounting and finance.

Professor Rifaat is the co-author of Business and Accounting Ethics in Islam and Islamic Finance, and The Euromoney bestseller book on Islamic Finance: Innovation and Growth. He is also the author of many academic and professional papers on accounting, governance and finance issues in Islamic banking and finance.

In 1998, he was the recipient of the “Lifetime Achievement Award in Islamic Banking and Finance”, awarded to him by the Islamic banking and Finance Forum in Bahrain. In 2003, Professor Rifaat was bestowed the American Finance House – LARIBA Award for Excellence in Faith-Based LARIBA Banking & Finance (Academic Division), and other several certificates of recognition from the State of California in the USA. In 2004, Professor Rifaat also received the accolade of winning the Euromoney most prestigious award for “Outstanding Contribution in the Development of Islamic Finance”, which was conferred for the first time to an individual instead to an institution.

Yavar Moini

Senior Manage, Islamic Structured Finance, Dubai Bank

Mr. Moini joined Dubai Bank in October 2004 as Senior Manager, Islamic Structured Finance.  He is responsible for creating investment products that enable the Bank to leverage its proprietary stakes in opportunities originated by the Merchant Banking business.  Such structured products will constitute the Bank’s Asset Management Program that will target sophisticated institutional and private investors.

Yavar’s previous experience includes being part of the Management team of Estithmaar Ventures, a US$ 50 million private equity technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) fund initiated by Deutsche Bank and The Investment Office.

He has helped establish and manage the Islamic Financial Services Group for Ernst & Young, Bahrain, a dedicated unit providing strategic consultancy services to Islamic financial institutions.  Landmark projects included the Liquidity Management Centre, Bahrain where he was part of team that devised the structure and business plan; strategy development for a US$ 150 million Islamic investment bank by a leading Saudi group and various cutting edge product development initiatives for leading regional players.

Yavar joined the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Jeddah in March 1997 as a part of their Young Professionals Program.  He then joined Treasury where his primary responsibility was structuring a US$ 1.5 billion Infrastructure Fund for Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) that is located in Bahrain.

Mr. Moini started his career in November 1993 with Citibank Pakistan as a relationship manager in the corporate bank.  He then joined an American Express joint venture in Karachi in 1994 where he managed Treasury and developed the first corporate debt and commercial paper in Pakistan.

Yavar has an MBA from New York University and a BA from the University of Warwick.

Mohammad Ali Sharif

Head of Islamic Banking, Maybank

MD. ALI BIN MD. SARIF joined Maybank in 1976 after completing his 3 year B.Ec programme at University Malaya where he was the Bank’s scholar. He was involved in branch/retail operations before being moved to the Corporate Planning Department in 1977. He was primarily involved in planning process and organizations and methods (O&M). In 1982, he was involved in the formation of Funding Department of the Bank where he was its head until 1985. His functions were to guide the Bank in matters relating sources and uses of funds, money market operations and management of assets and liabilities. He was also in charge of Correspondent Banking Unit of the bank.

He pursued his MBA degree in 1985 - 1987. In 1987, he was involved in the formation of Asset & Liability Management (ALM) process of the Bank, culminating the formation of ALCO (Asset & Liability Management Committee). Maybank was the first local bank to have ALM software and ALCO. ALCO was instrumental in driving Maybank’s policies & strategies which contributed significantly to the top position occupied by Maybank.

He was the Secretary of ALCO until 1992 when he took up the challenge to pioneer the formation of Islamic Banking in Maybank. This was partly due to the additional qualifications secured by him during the period i.e. Diploma in Islamic Studies (1987) and Post Graduate Diploma in Syariah Law (1991).

He has been heading Islamic Banking from its formation until now. He has been very successful in managing Islamic Banking in Maybank which presently stands at about RM22.0 billion or about 17% of Maybank’s domestic business. Maybank’s Islamic banking business now is the biggest among the commercial banks. Maybank is dominant in house financing and trade financing with 45% and 52% share of the market respectively. Maybank also has a very strong presence in corporate finance, commercial financing and auto financing. He is in charge on all Shariah matters for the group including liaisons & meetings with Syariah Committee Members.

His responsibility covers Islamic retail, enterprise and auto finance of the Bank. He is responsible for development new Islamic products, expansion in Islamic branches and all policies and strategies towards healthy development of Islamic business of Maybank. He is involved in the introduction of Islamic banking in Maybank London Branch. He assisted in Islamic activities in Maybank Bahrain Branch and Maybank International Labuan Limited.

He is the Hon. Secretary of The Association Of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia: He pioneered the formation of the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM) in 1994 where he remains as its Honorary Secretary until now. All Islamic banking institutions in Malaysia are members of AIBIM.

Duncan Smith

SVP, Group Head, Islamic Financial Services

Arab Banking Corporation (B.S.C.), Bahrain

In 1976, Duncan started his career in the construction industry before joining Barclays Bank in 1979 where he rose to the level of Regional Manager with the International Project & Trade Division. From Barclays he moved to Saudi International Bank where he established and developed SIB’s Islamic Investment business by the late 1980s into a market leading position, inter alia creating the first Islamic mutual fund invested in trade.  Duncan spent 1991-1999 with the United Bank of Kuwait and built an innovative financial services and international asset management business with in excess of $1 billion of client funds invested in real estate, leased equipment, securities and trade. 

At the end of 1999, Arab Banking Corporation invited Duncan and his asset management team to join them to establish ABCIB Islamic Asset Management Ltd as a subsidiary of its London operation.  ‘IAM’, in close cooperation with ABC Islamic Bank Bahrain and other parts of the Group, provides investment products and solutions in trade, real estate and equipment leasing.  In April 2004, Duncan was invited to join Arab Banking Corporation BSC head office in Bahrain to establish the new global Islamic Financial Services division, taking responsibility for ABC Group’s various Islamic Banking activities worldwide.

Sohail Jaffer

Partner & CIO, FWU Group

Sohail Jaffer is a Partner and CIO within the FWU Group, the independent fast growing international financial services group headquartered in Munich. FWU Group’s core activities comprise asset management, life insurance (Family Takaful and unit linked investment plans) and pensions. 

As Managing Director of Premium Select Lux SA, an asset management subsidiary of FWU AG in Luxembourg, his responsibilities include fund product development, the evaluation and selection of external asset managers for multi-manager programmes and building international distribution across bank and other financial intermediary channels for a broad array of private label wealth management solutions including a Dynamic Quant global equity investment strategy  and Islamic investment products.

From June 1998 until June 1999 he was Senior Vice President within the International Mutual Funds Group of Scudder, Stevens and Clark Ltd, based in London and responsible for international product development in Europe and Japan.  From January 1989 until May 1998 Mr Jaffer worked in Citibank London. He was with the Financial Institutions Group until 1996 and later was Director within Citibank’s Alternative Investment Strategies Group, which formed part of Citibank Global Asset Management. His responsibilities included international business and product development, designing structured fund products linked to a broad spectrum of alternative investments, and the sales and marketing of a wide range of Alternative Investment Funds to institutional investors in Europe and the Middle East region. He is a UK qualified accountant (FCCA) and was an Audit Partner with Pricewaterhouse.

A Council Member of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) and he was also Chairman of AIMA for two consecutive terms from 1997 to 2000.  He has written extensively on alternative investments throughout the financial media, edited ‘Alternative Investment Strategies’, “Funds of Hedge Funds” for professional investors and managers and contributed a chapter to ‘Evaluating and Implementing Hedge Fund Strategies’ (second edition), all published by Euromoney books. Recently he also edited a new Euromoney publication on ”Islamic Asset Management”.

Adel Al Shirawi

CEO, Tamweel

Adel Al Shirawi is the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors for Tamweel. He served as an Executive Director, and board member for the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC). Furthermore, Adel Al Shirawi was the Secretary General for The Corporate Office group of companies (PCFC, Dubai Metals & Commodities Center-DMCC, Tejari, Nakheel Properties). He is also a member of the Dubai 'e-Government' Executive Team.

He has received several leading industry awards including the Dubai Government Excellence Award for Best Employee in 1999.

Adel Al Shirawi holds a Masters degree in Engineering (Mathematics and Computer Sciences Engineering) from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, United States. He has also finished Executive education programs with IMD, Harvard Business School and London Business School.

Speaker from

Dubai Islamic Bank

Mudaser Qidwai

Deputy Manager, Asset Management

Al Madar

Deputy Manager of the Asset Management & Advisory Dept at Almadar Finance & Investment Company (since 2002).  Responsible for the structuring, testing and calculation of the Almadar Sharia Compliant indices.  Also, responsible for the international asset management of private and public equity funds and portfolios.  Fund Manager for the Almadar US Index Equity Fund.

Previously worked at The International Investor (TII) as a partner in the Product Development Team from 2000 to 2002.  Was involved with the structuring of new Sharia Compliant investments products both for TII and its clients. Was also involved with the Sharia screening and dividend cleansing of the TII/FTSE indices and funds.

Before relocating to Kuwait, worked as a Certified Public Accountant for a regional Mid-Western accounting firm in the United States.

Ahmed Marafi

Al Madar

Deputy Manager of the Asset Management Dept at Almadar Finance & Investment Company. Actively managing local Kuwaiti equity portfolios for high net worth individuals, various corporate clients including Almadars’ parent company,  Investment Dar Group, Kuwait.  Also, Responsible for managing the Sharia Compliance advisory contracts with various Kuwaiti conventional investment companies to assist them to establish and manage Sharia Compliant Kuwaiti equity Funds. 

A regular speaker on Kuwaiti economy and stock market for Al-Arabia TV,  Kuwait Television, CNBC-Arabia.

Previously, worked at The International Investor (TII) as a partner in the Al-Deema Dept.  Was responsible for the marketing of the Al-Deema Sharia Compliant investment solution to retail banks in the GCC region. Was also involved with the product development of Al-Deema investment solutions.

Before joining TII, worked as a Senior Supervisor in the LC Dept at the Kuwait Finance House from 1996 to 2000.

Mohd. Azmi Abu Bakar

CEO, Takaful Malaysia Berhad

Abu Bakar is Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Takaful Malaysia.

A masters degree holder in Actuarial Science from Iowa University in the USA, he first joined Takaful Malaysia in 1989 as an Executive in the Family Takaful Division. In the year 1992 he became the Manager of Family Takaful Department. Later in 1999, Encik Md. Azmi Abu Bakar was promoted to the position of General Manager of Family Takaful Division before becoming the COO in November 2003.

Sohail Zubairi

Vice President, Shariah Structuring Documentation & Product Development, Dubai Islamic Bank

Mr Sohail Zubairi is a qualified banker, having held senior Corporate Credit and Risk Management positions in prestigious organizations. He has significant experience of the Middle Eastern market (over 2 decades) attained mainly in Large Corporate Lending, Risk Management and Syndication.

Since joining Islamic banking, Mr. Zubairi has taken several initiatives in promoting the cause, including starting a weekly column (Mondays) in Dubai's widely circulated daily 'Gulf News'. In Credit Risk Management he was instrumental in setting up a focused RMD function at a prime European bank for its GCC operation and a large PJSC with activities including acquisition and takeovers.

Mr Zubairi has successfully completed acquisitions of 4 medium to large industrial businesses in the UAE and was instrumental in substantial improvement in their performance by way of introducing new measures of improving efficiency.

He has successfully processed large to ultra large projects based in the UAE and abroad including ENOC Condensate Refinery, Dubai Expansion, Dubai Wold Trade Centre, Emirates Airline, Jumbo Electronics, Sahara Centre, Abu Dhabi Mall, Marina Mall, Shangri La Dubai, Shuweihat CMS International Power Co., Deira City Centre Expansion, Tabreed (district cooling company), Brunei Gas Carriers, Malaysian Sukuk and many others.

Mr. Zubairi has designed and successfully implemented various innovative Credit and Risk Management tools and provided training to colleagues on their usage and benefits.

Shaikh Rizal Sulaiman

Managing Director & Founder, Arianworks Sdn Bhd

Currently the Managing Director of Arianworks Sdn Bhd since 2003 October. Also CEO/ED of DB-HICOM Information Technologies Bhd. In charge of the National IT Special Project "KOMNAS 2020", an open source 'digital divide' project accorded the national status under the patronage and reporting to the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The company was also the primary IT arm for the DRB-HICOM Bhd group. (2001-2002)

Adviser for the New Business Ventures at Mimos Berhad (200-2001). Founded the business model for the proposed national low cost PC and responsible for the National Internet Penetration Program NIPP, an agenda of the National IT Council and a council member of the Penang State IT Council responsible for the blueprint of PenangNet.

Waheed Qaiser

UK Islamic Finance Practitioner

Waheed Qaiser is an accomplished Islamic Banker and a management professional. Mr Qaiser is credited with providing Islamic Mortgages to the Muslims and other Communities in the West. He has held responsible positions in CitiBank NA, Islamic Investment Banking Unit, UBS AG and HSBC Republic. Mr Qaiser is currently supporting various other organisations to promote the cause of Islamic Banking globally.

Keith Leach

Senior Manager, UK Islamic Financial Services

ABC International Bank PLC

Keith Leach has worked in banking since 1980, beginning his career at Lloyds Bank before moving to The United Bank of Kuwait, now Ahli United Bank (AUB).  In May 2003 Keith joined the Islamic team at ABC International Bank plc, as a Senior Manager, to help implement their plans towards providing retail Islamic financial services in the UK and Europe. At AUB, Keith was responsible for the introduction of the Manzil Home Purchase Plans, the most successful Islamic retail product launched in the UK. 

Keith’s background is in personal and property lending, specialising in the structuring of tax efficient residential and commercial property purchases by non-resident Gulf Nationals and he is a founding member of The Bank of England Working Party, established to help increase the availability of Islamic finance in the UK.   

Mohammed Boulif

Al Maalya, Belgium

For almost 20 years he is an observer of the Islamic Finance movement, when in 1985 he cooperated with others students in France to establish the first group studies on Islamic Finance in Europe to stimulate this area.

He has miscellaneous degrees in Financial Accounting and Applied Economics and as such he held many financial positions in international companies in Brussels. In 1994, he joined the then Islamic Takafol Company (renamed Takafol S.A.), a subsidiary of Dar Al Maal Al Islami in Luxembourg as Financial Manager till recently. He was also Board member of many companies in that Group. During that period he attended and delivered speeches in many local and international Islamic Finance conferences.

Since September 2003, he is the President of the Executive Council of Muslims of Belgium, an official government institution elected by Muslims to be in charge of the Muslims Affairs in that country.

Two years ago he contributed with other professionals and students to establish the Cercle d'Etudes et de Recherches en Economie Islamique, CEREI [a Group Studies and Research on Islamic Economics] to promote and develop the Islamic Finance in the continental Europe focusing now on Belgium and the Netherlands in cooperation with Islamic-Commerce. In 2003, the CEREI conducted the first survey on the Islamic Financial needs of the Muslim citizens in Belgium and is now negotiating with local banks the development of Islamic Finance products in that country.

Naveed Siddiqui

CEO, Capitas Group

Naveed has been featured and quoted in various international media including the New York Times, CBS Marketwatch, the Financial Times, and various other US media.

Stephen Lange Ranzini, age 39, has been President, CEO and a director of the Company or its Predecessors since July 1988, and in addition has served in a variety of other management position at the Company, University Bank and the Bank's subsidiaries since July 1988. In November 1997, he became President and Chairman of the Bank. In May 1993, Mr. Ranzini became a Director and the Treasurer of Michigan BIDCO, a community development lending organization, and was elected President and Chairman in January 2003. Since July 1991, Mr. Ranzini has been a director of CityFed Financial Corp., a former savings and loan holding company now based in Massachusetts.

Since July 1997, Mr. Ranzini has served as a Director of Newco Bancorp and its predecessor, Municipal Bankers Corp., a CEDAR reporting Canadian investment company previously listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Mr. Ranzini was also elected Chairman of U.S. Mutual Financial Corporation in December 2003, an SEC reporting company traded on the OTC Bulletin Board. He earned a B.A. from Yale in 1986. He is the brother of Joseph Lange Ranzini and Paul Lange Ranzini.

Farrukh Siddiqui

COO, Capitas Group

At Capitas Group Farrukh heads the charge for developing and integrating operational and origination processes with partner financial institutions across North America to build efficient distribution platforms for Islamic consumer finance products.

Rehan Huda

CEO

Salam Financial

Rehan Huda is based in Ottawa, Canada and is the founder and CEO of Salam Financial, a firm specializing in Shariah compliant financial products and services for the Canadian marketplace. He is also the chair of the Muslim Credit Union project which is in the process of launching the first Muslim credit union in Canada. Mr. Huda has been a guest speaker on Islamic Economics and Finance in a variety of forums in Canada and has been interviewed on this subject by some of the country's leading media outlets.

Mr. Huda has held various positions within the Canadian federal government including Senior Economist for the Department of Finance and Senior Analyst for the Natural Resources and Industry Departments. He was a recipient of the government's Public Service Award of Excellence for his financial and economic a nalysis related to the awarding of operating licenses to wireless telecommunication service providers. He has also been a management consultant to emerging Canadian telecommunications and energy companies.

Mr. Huda has a B.A. in Economics and Psychology and a Masters in Economics from the University of Manitoba in Western Canada.

Lotfi Zairi

Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment & Export Credit (ICIEC)

Mr. Lotfi Zairi is responsible for Financial Institutions in “The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit” (ICIEC), a multilateral Takaful Institution, member of “The Islamic Development Group” (IDB Group).

He earned a Master-Science in Economics from the University of Tunisia in 1987.

Mr. Lotfi Zairi has been working for the Islamic Finance sector for the last 17 years. He has first joined B.E.S.T Bank – Tunis in 1988 as Head of International Finance. He started his international experience in 1997 with Qatar Islamic Bank – Doha as Assistant Manager of International Investment, before moving to Bahrain where he joined “The Islamic Finance Consultants” (IFC - Bahrain) in year 2000 as Associate Director   and “Shamil Bank of Bahrain” in 2001as Manager of Structured Finance.

Naushad Noorali

Managing Director, Emirates Sudan Ban

Musadaq El Melik

Head of Islamic Banking, Qatar National Bank

Musadag El Melik, American Nationality (Sudanese oriigin) is a self-motivated bank professional with almost 27 years experience in business development; strategic and business planning; business restructuring/re-engineering; developing adopting and implementing the origination team budget and allocation of performance targets; establishing and implementing marketing strategy and plans; developing transaction pricing models using Basel II; transaction analysis, structuring and negotiation; setting exposure strategy; negotiation of bilateral and multilateral legal agreements; completion and closing of transactions; designing analysing and solving business process maps; development of MIS reports; product development and marketing; cross selling; structuring major project finance deals; syndications; evaluation and recommendation of strategic bank investments in affiliates or new entities as well as complex deals.

Broad knowledge in risk management, treasury, electronic banking, consumer banking products as well as general experience gained through liaision with bank systems and operations. Possess strong general management, leadership, communication and negotiation skills as well as good analytical and organizational aptitiudes.

On March 27^th 2005, Mr. El Melik was seconded from Qatar National Bank to head and lead the establishment and developemnt of Islamic branch of Qatar National Bank branded as “QNB al islami”.  

Mr. El Melik is a holder of CPA cetificate, MBA degree in finance and post graduate diploma in Islamic banking from London Institute of Islamic Banking.

Mohammed Khalil

Al Sunut, Sudan

Paul Mcnamara

Editor, Banker Middle East

Paul is editor of the regionally notable Banker ME magazine and brings his past experience of the publishing world from Euromoney to this important publication.

Paul Dodd

Head of Product Management

Misys Banking Systems

Paul Dodd has been involved in the banking industry, directly and indirectly, for 36 years. With the Barclays Bank Group for over 22 years, his roles included audit,  treasury management consultancy and product management. His subsequent career has been in the banking systems industry where he has been involved in a variety of roles in Misys International Banking Systems and its forebears, including Marketing, Product Management, Development and Banking Consultancy.

Concentrating on the Middle East for the last 7 years, he has worked closely with banks throughout the region with focus on introducing product management and re-engineering processes to improve customer service whilst simultaneously reducing bank costs.