Ariff Sultan joined IdealRatings in 2012 as the regional director of Asia and is responsible for the business in this region. IdealRatings is a solution provider for the Islamic capital markets for asset management and responsible finance/environment, social and governance (ESG) sectors. Prior to this, Ariff was the regional director for Russell Indexes and Dow Jones Indexes, and was responsible for developing their businesses in the Asian market, both for the conventional and Shariah index sales. Ariff has 17 years of experience in financial and banking software sales, successfully selling into APAC and the Middle East financial institutions. He has worked with leading financial software providers including London Bridge Group, Fair Isaac and Callatay & Wouters and Misys. Prior to his sales career, Ariff started his career as a software developer and project manager for financial software applications with Deloitte and Touché and subsequently with OCBC Bank in Singapore.
Jamaluddin Nor Mohamad is the director of the Islamic Capital Market at Bursa Malaysia. He is spearheading the expansion and development of the products and services of the Islamic capital markets, which include equities, liquidity management and fixed income, as well as the Labuan International Financial Exchange.
Jamaluddin brings with him over 25 years of experience in the banking industry in various capacities in Malaysia and abroad, including senior positions in Bumiputra Commerce Bank, Bank Simpanan Nasional and Bank Pembangunan Malaysia.
Jamaluddin holds an MBA from University Putra Malaysia and a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ohio University as well as a certificate in investment management from Securities Institute in the UK.
Pavanjit Kaur is currently the head of Hong Leong Islamic Bank’s Treasury Solutions under Islamic Global Markets. With a 16-year career in markets, Pavan’s expertise primarily covers providing hedging and investment solutions for government-linked companies as well as local and foreign corporate clients. In her current role, she has been instrumental in setting up the Islamic global markets sales desk to provide comprehensive solutions to clients across various underlying assets classes. Prior to her current role, Pavan gained experience in derivatives and structured products working for HSBC Bank and CIMB Investment Bank over a period of six years. Pavan's earlier experience as a fixed income manager with ING Investment saw her involvement in managing fixed income portfolios for insurance and unit linked funds, in accordance with investment mandates. Pavan started her career with RAM Rating Services as a credit analyst evaluating credit profiles and assigning ratings based on the risk profile for both banks and local companies interested in raising debt via capital markets. Pavan holds a Bachelor's degree in law with honours from the University of London, and an MBA from Griffith University Queensland Australia.
Raja Amir joined the HSBC Amanah debt capital markets team in November 2010 and is responsible for advising and structuring integrated ringgit bond and Islamic financing solutions for Malaysian corporates, government-linked corporations and financing institutions, multinationals and foreign issuers, which covers the full spectrum of fixed income instruments encompassing domestic and international bonds and syndicated loans, Islamic and conventional, structured capital markets, asset-backed solutions and Sukuk issuance of multiple currencies via a stand-alone basis or the establishment of a multicurrency program. Raja Amir has strong knowledge in Islamic finance and is experienced in reviewing and providing inputs on documentation in respect of transactions covering Malaysian, English and New York law in Islamic financing and Sukuk. During his six years in the debt capital markets, he has led numerous key debt financing transactions in Southeast Asia, including program establishments such as Axiata Group’s US$1.5 billion multicurrency Sukuk program and landmark bond issuances such as the government of Malaysia’s US$1.5 billion Sukuk Wakalah in 2015, among many others.
Tahir Ali Sheikh has 18 years of experience in capital markets, asset management, project financing and private equity in the Middle East, Central, South and Southeast Asia. Tahir is currently the head of the Islamic Advisory, Regional Debt Capital Markets (DCM) at CIMB where he leads structuring and execution of Sukuk transactions. Prior to joining the DCM team, Tahir was the head of the Islamic asset management and investments at CIMB Islamic where he was responsible for managing the Shariah advisory aspects for CIMB Group’s Islamic investment management business which totaled US$5.7 billion in assets under management. Tahir was previously a director with the infrastructure-focused private equity fund manager CapAsia. Prior to joining CapAsia, Tahir led project and corporate finance transactions in the Middle East as a vicepresident with the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. Tahir has also worked as a projects officer at the IDB where he managed a portfolio of projects in excess of US$2.3 billion in Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran and Bangladesh. Tahir started his career with BP Exploration and Production in Pakistan in 1996. Tahir is a CFA Charterholder and has a Master's degree in public administration from Harvard University. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore and an MBA from the Institute of the Business Management, Karachi in Pakistan.
