2nd October 2023
Kuala Lumpur
#IFNASIA2023
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About The Forum
Now in its 18th year, the IFN Asia Forum is IFN’s flagship event which has become a ‘must attend’ business event for Islamic finance professionals from around the world. It is a confluence of the brightest and most influential personalities of the industry, bringing quality and relevant discussions to the stage and invaluable networking opportunities.
Asia is recognized by the world as the bastion of Islamic finance housing the world’s most populous Muslim nation and largest Islamic finance market. With the support of regulators and multilateral Islamic finance organizations, IFN Asia Forum 2023 will take place at the heart of Islamic finance in the region, Kuala Lumpur.
As the center of Islamic capital-raising activities by volume and its diversity of instruments and issuers, the Forum will embody themes exploring Shariah financing through the banking and capital markets from both the perspectives of issuers and facilitators.
An Introduction to 2023
We were delighted to be back in the conference rooms in 2022 following a near two-year hiatus, and it seems you were too.
We saw capacity audiences for the UK, Asia and Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment Forums, and strong numbers everywhere else. We believe 2023 will surpass pre-pandemic numbers in all our core markets.
We have also learned much this past year and will implement the following:
- The Forum format is essential in certain markets, and will remain in London, Muscat and Kuala Lumpur in 2023.
- Our exclusive Dialogues have been warmly welcomed by all those participating and attending, and we will increase this offering in 2023, with events in Dubai, Riyadh, Doha, Jakarta, and Manama.
- Live streaming has not taken off as many expected. However, watching recorded content has skyrocketed — certainly for us anyway. So, all Forums will be recorded and posted online for our global audience within a week of each event.
- But, as our audiences enjoy recorded content, we will be organizing various country and sector ‘OnAir’ events and posting online for all to view.
- Islamic sustainable is big. Our ISFI Forum in Kuala Lumpur in 2022 was outstanding and will remain for 2023. And, with COP28 in the UAE in 2023, we are introducing the ISFI Dialogues, which will be held in Dubai.
We are excited for the new year and look forward to welcoming you to our events and assisting in the continued global growth of the Islamic financial markets.
#IFNFORUMS2023
Forum Agenda
Forum Speakers
Advisory Board
Dean Gillespie
CEO, Islamic Bank of AustraliaDean Gillespie is CEO of Islamic Bank Australia and has extensive banking and start-up experience across both Australia and Asia. He has led the creation of Australia’s first Islamic bank since 2018. He was previously in charge of home loan sales at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the head of mortgages at Bankwest where he doubled the business’s size within three years. He also ran the retail bank at Vietnam International Bank in Hanoi across 160 branches nationwide, where he built the bank’s first mobile banking app.
Dean has a history of founding start-ups including SparkleVote, an innovative online election company. Outside of work, Dean is the chair of the UK’s aeroplane ambulance service, flies aircraft and studies astrophysics part-time. He holds a Master of Finance degree and a Bachelor of Economics degree. Dean joined Islamic Bank Australia largely as a volunteer in 2018 before transitioning to full-time CEO in 2020. He is passionate about the need to support Muslim Australians in building the first Islamic bank. His knowledge of Australian retail banking and his commitment to ethical banking are key drivers in delivering the Islamic Bank Australia Vision to reality.
Joanne Rodrigues
Group Chief Financial Officer, Affin Bank
Marcel Omar Papp
Head of Retakaful, Swiss ReMarcel Omar Papp is the principal officer of Swiss Re Kuala Lumpur Branch since August 2018, overseeing both the conventional and re-Takaful operations of Swiss Re in Malaysia. He came to Swiss Re Kuala Lumpur Branch in February 2009 with the responsibility to set up and head the re-Takaful operations, and it has since since become the global center for Swiss Re’s Family and General re-Takaful business leading the development of the firm’s Islamic reinsurance business, products and processes worldwide. Under his leadership, Swiss Re Retakaful has become a market leader in Southeast Asia and has won several ‘Best Retakaful operation’ awards.
Prior to moving to Malaysia, Marcel Omar was based in Hong Kong and Singapore for 10 years in various underwriting roles, including head of the Casualty Treaty Desk and product manager of casualty for Asia.
Marcel Omar started his career in insurance more than 25 years ago as a claims broker in the London market working for Willis. He then moved to Union Re (Zurich) working in client market and underwriting functions before joining Swiss Re in 1998.
Marcel Omar holds a Masters of Arts degree in business administration from the University of Zurich (Switzerland) and is an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London.
Michael Orzano
Global Head of Equity Indices, S&P Dow Jones IndicesMichael Orzano (Mike) is the senior director of global equity indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI). He is responsible for the product management of S&P DJI’s global equity, real estate and Islamic indices including the S&P/ASX and S&P/TSX series. In this role, Mike leads S&P DJI’s efforts developing new benchmarks for international equity markets and promotes their use among global clients. He also regularly publishes research, analytical reports and market commentary on a variety of international investment topics.
Prior to joining S&P DJI, Mike was a research analyst at Endurance Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, where he was responsible for evaluating investments in banks and other financial institutions. He has also worked as an investment performance analyst at Cambridge Associates.
Mike holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Georgetown University. He is also a CFA charterholder and a member of the New York CFA Society.
Mohamed Shehzad Bin Mohamed Islam
CEO, Ethis Investment - EthisXMohamed Shehzad (zad) has close to 25 years experience and has assumed roles in corporate planning, management consulting, business development, marketing and sales and investments. He started as a corporate executive, was part of a family office and is still a corporate entrepreneur. His engagements have spanned multi-sectors including the emerging field of fintech.
Zad graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London in 1997. A career within aviation till 2004 saw him in engineering and marketing & sales positions. Continuing his education at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Zad completed an MEng in Mechatronics Engineering in 2008 focused on drones technology.
Returning to Singapore, Zad joined a boutique consultancy as a management consultant and he participated in a number of projects, working on scopes ranging from business planning and market development to project planning, project financing and project implementation.
Between 2012 to 2017, Zad was part of a Qatari multi-business holding and family office and eventually held the position of Strategic Business Development Director. While there, Zad initiated a number of business verticals including hospitality and real estate, education, manufacturing and consulting. Zad left Qatar mid 2017 when his family relocated home and focused on sell side M&A as well select advisory assignments. He also made investments into start-ups.
In late 2019, Zad became the founding CEO (Designate)of the first Shariah compliant equity crowdfunding platform, Ethis Malaysia which is regulated by Securities Commission Malaysia.
He is currently the COO of Ethis Global and concurrently the CEO of Ethis Investment comprising EthisX, a global ethical alternative investment platform regulated by Oman Capital Market Authority, Ethis Fund, a fund management company licensed under Labuan Financial Services Authority and EthisX Advisory.
Mohammed Alim
CEO and Cofounder, IBF Net Group
Mustafa Aydemir
Senior Investment Analyst, Saturna MalaysiaMustafa Aydemir is currently working as a Senior Investment Analyst with Saturna Shd Bhd, a subsidiary of Bellingham, Washington-based investment firm Saturna Capital. He is an investment advisor for HNW clients and head of the retail strategy in the ASEAN region. His research work covers ESG and the banking sector. Mustafa is a Ph.D. candidate at the IIUM Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance. Mustafa studied at the Investment banking institute in New York City in 2009, has a master’s degree in Islamic finance from INCEIF in 2013, and is a CFA Level 2 candidate. Further, he is a registered Shariah financial planner.
Mustafa is a subject matter expert on sustainability, ESG, and the SDGs. He is a regular speaker and panelist on the topic in Malaysia, organized by industry players and regulators such as the Securities Commission of Malaysia, FIMM, and MFPC.
Mustafa’s illustrious career started his career with Arthur Andersen in Stuttgart as a business consultant in 1999. He then worked for the world’s leading business software house, SAP AG, in Walldorf, Germany. He gained experience in system integration, internal audit, business, technical consulting, change management, enterprise risk management, and strategic planning. Before asset management, Mustafa worked in international project teams and advised the executive management of various German DAX companies, including Siemens AG, Daimler AG, and BMW AG.
Mustafa lived, studied, and worked in Europe, the US, and Asia. He was instrumental in starting and heading the consulting practice of Al-Othman Group, Saudi Arabia, in 2006. During that period, he was the program manager for major projects, including Aramco, Sabic, and Amiantit. After completing his assignments successfully, Mustafa moved to Bahrain and worked as a senior advisor at Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) until April 2011. Mr. Aydemir has been working and living in Malaysia since 2011.
Nicholas Edmondes
Partner, Trowers & Hamlins
Raja Teh Maimunah
CEO, Aeon Digital Bank
Suhazi Reza Selamat
CEO, UOB Islamic Asset ManagementReza has more than 20 years of investment-related experience in the financial services industry. Starting his career in the Treasury Division of a Malaysian Bank, Reza dealt in multiple financial instruments, including foreign exchange and derivatives for both proprietary trading and corporate desks. He moved into Asset Management in 2002, covering sales, marketing, distribution, training and product development.
He was based in the Middle East in 2008 & 2009 to develop the middle eastern market for a Malaysian Asset Management outfit and specialized in Islamic Asset Management since 2010.
Reza obtained his MBA, specializing in Islamic Finance from University Malaya, and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from La Trobe University, Melbourne. He is a holder of the Security Commission of Malaysia’s (SC) Capital Markets and Services Representative’s License (CMSRL) for fund management in 2011 and is a Shariah Registered Financial Planner by Malaysia Financial Planning Council (MFPC) since 2019.
Tan Pheng Leong
CFO, Bank Islam Brunei DarussalamForum Partners
PARTNERS
DDCAP Group
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in London, with an office in Dubai and a presence in both Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, DDCAP is a leading provider of asset facilitation services and financial technology and system solutions across a diverse range of Shariah compliant products, asset classes and instruments in both the primary and secondary markets. DDCAP’s wholly-owned subsidiaries include DD&Co and DDGI. DDCAP has an extensive track record within the Islamic finance industry, employing over 35 professionals with broad and complementary skill sets drawn from diverse financial industry backgrounds, focused principally on providing service to Islamic financial market participants around the world. DDCAP has its own Shariah supervisory board comprising esteemed Shariah scholars from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Kuwait. DDCAP’s multi-award-winning Shariah compliant ETHOS Asset Facilitation Platform is a bespoke, real-time trade and post-trade services platform providing 24-hour coverage, enabling clients worldwide to purchase from a diverse asset inventory, including commodities, via a secure, web-based portal.
Eiger
Eiger Trading Advisors (Eiger) is a UK-based asset-trading and technology company founded in 2008, which specializes as an intermediary in Islamic financial products.
As a leading intermediary and technology provider within the commodity Murabahah space, Eiger has the unique capabilities to deliver Shariah compliant commodity trading solutions through the Eiger Trading Platform (ETP), a web-based trading system, that we tailor to our bank clients’ exact operational requirements.
The ETP automates the structuring and execution of Islamic banking products for wholesale and retail commodity-backed transactions, including two new enhanced modules:
- ETP Retail – A 24/7 STP platform designed to automate the end-to-end commodity Murabahah transactions underpinning retail banking products such as deposits, loans, CASA, credit cards
- ETP Client Reach – A bespoke middle and back office module designed to streamline Islamic treasury and derivative transactions, including execution and documentation with our clients’ clients.
Eiger is authorized and regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, and is both a member of the London Metal Exchange and an associate of the London Platinum and Palladium Market.
IdealRatings
IdealRatings was incorporated in 2006 in San Francisco with a corporate objective to provide SRI/ESG and Shariah compliant solutions to ethical investors and enable them to identify such instruments across different asset classes in the global market. IdealRatings serves clients in over 30 countries with a range of capital market solutions including:
- Equities – A web-based platform covering over 40,000 stocks, where fund managers can screen equities using different, custom-built ESG/SRI/Responsible Investments and Shariah rulebooks or guidelines. This solution caters to different purification calculation methodologies with a comprehensive set of reports for fund managers to manage their portfolio.
- REITs – Global coverage of all listed REITs that could be screened in accordance with different standard Shariah rulebooks or guidelines.
- Indexes – Co-branded and jointly marketed by FTSE-Russell Indexes and a separate series with Thomson Reuters for the global markets, designed for fund management and investment benchmarking. In addition, IdealRatings is able to provide custom-built indexes for the fund management industry.
- Sukuk – A unique solution which includes the global Sukuk and a pioneering Sukuk-screening solution that enables fund managers to customize their Sukuk selection in accordance to their Shariah rulebook, guidelines or investment preference, and
- Brokerage – The solution provides broking houses the ability to screen global equity markets, a technical analysis of the markets and equities, buy/sell/hold recommendations and purification amounts.
Moody’s Investors Service
Moody’s is a global risk assessment firm that empowers organizations to make better decisions. Its data, analytical solutions and insights help decision-makers identify opportunities and manage the risks of doing business with others. We believe that greater transparency, more informed decisions and fair access to information open the door to shared progress.
S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world. Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has become home to over one million indices across the spectrum of asset classes that have helped define the way investors measure and trade the markets.
S&P DJI has the longest history of providing Islamic market indices since the launch of DJIM World Index, the world’s first Shariah compliant benchmark in 1999. In 2006, the Dow Jones Sukuk Index was launched, which became the first index to track the performance of global Islamic fixed income securities.
Nowadays, S&P DJI offers two highly visible and widely used index families for Shariah compliant investors: The DJ Islamic Market (DJIM) Indices and S&P Shariah Indices. The two index families include thousands of broad-market, blue-chip, fixed-income and strategy and thematic indices that have passed rules-based screens for Shariah compliance and are the most visible and widely-used set of Shariah compliant benchmarks in the world. A majority of the largest asset managers in the Middle East, Southeast Asia as well as major banks/asset managers in Europe and the US that serve a Shariah clientele utilize S&P DJI to construct Shariah compliant investment strategies.
S&P DJI is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit www.spglobal.com/spdji/.
S&P Global Ratings
S&P Global Ratings is the world’s leading provider of independent credit ratings. Our ratings are essential to driving growth, providing transparency and helping educate market participants so they can make decisions with confidence. We have more than one million credit ratings outstanding on government, corporate, financial sector and structured finance entities and securities. We offer an independent view of the market built on a unique combination of broad perspective and local insight. We provide our opinions and research about relative credit risk; market participants gain independent information to help support the growth of transparent, liquid debt markets worldwide.
S&P Global Ratings is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit www.spglobal.com/ratings.
Trowers & Hamlins
Trowers & Hamlins is an international law firm with over 150 partners and more than 900 people located across the UK, the Middle East and the Far East providing a full-service integrated offering to clients with local knowledge and expertise at its core.
Our distinguishing feature is that with 25 years of experience in the UK and the Middle East, we have a depth of knowledge of the Islamic finance industry that covers the entire spectrum from regulatory and corporate governance to capital market issuances and real estate investment. Our international team of multidisciplinary specialists will guide you on structuring your Shariah compliant activities to help you achieve a successful outcome.
With our growing office in Kuala Lumpur, our team now advises on Islamic investments, financings and products across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
CONSULTANCY PARTNER
Redmoney Consulting
Launched in April 2021, Redmoney Consulting is a new and highly focused advisory firm focusing on global Islamic, Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable Finance. Redmoney Consulting is a logical extension of REDmoney Group, the Islamic finance industry’s leading media house with a truly global audience. In addition to Islamic finance, the Group has steadily increased its coverage of the green and sustainable finance sector as the two markets continue to converge. Redmoney Consulting provides an expansive service allowing its consultants to provide advisory and consulting services at the highest level for the most discerning of clients.
LEAD MEDIA PARTNERS
MEDIA PARTNER
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The Previous IFN Asia Forum
IFN Asia Forum 2022
The IFN Asia Forum remains the region’s largest Islamic finance gathering. An annual ‘must attend’ business event for Islamic finance professionals from around the world, IFN Asia is a confluence of the brightest and most influential personalities of the industry, bringing quality and relevant discussions to the stage and invaluable networking opportunities.
Asia is recognized by the world as the bastion of Islamic finance housing the world’s most populous Muslim nation and largest Islamic finance market. With the support of regulators and multilateral Islamic finance organizations, the 17th IFN Asia Forum took place at the heart of Islamic finance in the region, Kuala Lumpur.
As the center of Islamic capital-raising activities by volume and its diversity of instruments and issuers, the Forum embodied themes exploring Shariah financing through the banking and capital markets from both the perspectives of issuers and facilitators.
About REDmoney Events
REDmoney events designs, organizes and hosts industry-leading conferences, forums, roadshows, seminars and dialogues focusing on the Islamic financial markets across a global, regional and national level. Leveraging an exceptional network of the industry’s elite and supported by the expertise of the REDmoney publishing and seminars divisions, REDmoney Events are able to provide access to a unique array of influential speakers, panelists and participants from a cross-section of the global industry to debate the most significant issues affecting the Shariah compliant financial markets.
REDmoney events are differentiated by their complimentary yet qualified attendance structure, ensuring the highest quality of both delegates and contributors. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, attendance ensures exclusive access to the leaders in their field across all sectors and markets.
TThe annual IFN Asia and IFN UK Forums are categorically recognized as their continent’s leading industry events since their inception in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The Dialogues series has also become an integral element of the REDmoney events series and have cemented their position as leading, must-attend, events. In 2022, we introduced the Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment Forum, which was an enormous success, and will become a mainstay.
For any inquiries contact us
Our team will be glad to answer any questions you may have about this event.
