An experienced capital market regulator, Basheer Ahmad joined the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) in 2008 and is responsible for primary market regulations and for managing the DFSA Listing Authority. He is the Islamic finance subject matter expert at the DFSA and is also responsible for the development of the ESG securities requirements.

Basheer has spent over 20 years working for international regulators with an emphasis on securities rules and regulations, policy formulation, listing rules, operating listing regimes and market disclosures. He holds a Barrister-at-Law degree from Lincoln’s Inn in the UK, and is a Chartered Islamic Finance professional.

Dr Bello Lawal Danbatta was appointed the secretary-general of the IFSB effective the 29^th January 2018.

Dr Bello was previously the director of the Centre of Consultancy and Executive Programs at the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance and has over 25 years of combined experience in the private, academia as well as financial services regulation and supervision sectors across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He is a member of AAOIFI, and has chaired various working groups for the issuance of financial accounting standards for Islamic financial institutions. He has also been involved in the development and drafting of standards, guidelines and frameworks for capital adequacy, accounting as well as supervision and regulation of Islamic finance for various countries.

Dr Bello holds a PhD. in Islamic banking and finance from the International Islamic University Malaysia and an MBA in corporate finance. He is a chartered accountant with the Association of Certified Chartered Accountant (ACCA-UK), a member of the Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance Professionals, Nigerian Institute of Management and International Council for Islamic Finance Educators. He has worked with the Securities and Exchange Commission Nigeria and other multinational corporations.

Yoon Jun Jie is CEO and founder of Capsphere, Malaysia’s first asset-based peer-to-peer financing and investment platform registered with Securities Commission Malaysia. He started Capsphere to support local SMEs and to enable communities to take part in their growth. Previously, he was the vice-president in the Southeast Asia Global Corporate Banking team at Bank of America. He has gained experience in facilitating debt financing and advising on cash management and treasury solutions for global corporations and financial institutions.

Yoon has completed the Professional Credit Certification from Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers. His education background includes a Master of Philosophy degree in economics from the University of Cambridge and Bachelor of Science degree in statistics, economics and finance from University College London.

Dr Mohamad Zabidi Ahmad has worked in the banking industry for 38 years. He has amassed 19 years of experience in group treasury products and functions (conventional and Islamic) including corporate (deposits, investments, client solutions), interbank, fixed income and derivatives, product development, structuring and marketing. He previously served as the senior managing director and regional head of Islamic treasury, treasury and markets in group wholesale banking for CIMB Group. During that time, he was responsible for the development of CIMB Group’s regional Islamic treasury franchises, managing over RM100 billion (US$23.88 billion) of Islamic assets for CIMB Group Islamic Banking. His country-focused treasury remits included Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand and for five years, he was based in London as a chief dealer. His innovations included the introduction of CIMB’s Islamic repo contract.

Dr Mohamad Zabidi has held various additional executive management positions within the CIMB Group, including the chairman of the Investment Account Oversight Committee and a member of the Group Islamic Management Committee, the Treasury and Market Committee and the Group Islamic Wholesale Banking Committee. He has been widely recognized for his leadership, with CIMB announced as ‘Best Islamic Bank for Treasury Management’ at the IFN Awards in 2019. He previously participated in the Bursa Malaysia/Bank Negara Malaysia Working Group resulting in the formation of the Bursa Suq Al-Sila’ Commodity House and the Working Group resulting in the establishment of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation.

Dr Mohamad Zabidi served as a proactive chairman of AIBIM Treasury & Markets, leading the CMTC Sukuk Index Task Force in the successful launch of the Sovereign & Corporate Bloomberg-AIBIM-Bursa Sukuk Index in September 2012. In 2018, under his leadership, AIBIM also published the practice notes for Qard Hasan and commodity Murabahah for adoption by AIBIM members. He has presented papers on Islamic treasury products to various central banks, including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Bank Indonesia and Bank Negara Malaysia.

Among his academic and professional achievements, Dr Mohamad Zabidi holds a doctorate in business administration from Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate School of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia and has a Bachelor in Accountancy degree with honors from Universiti Teknologi MARA.

A qualified chartered accountant, Dr Mohamad Zabidi is a practicing member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, a certified senior financial market practitioner by ACI-Financial Market of Malaysia and the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers and holds an Associate Qualification in Islamic Finance from the Islamic Banking & Finance Institute Malaysia and that of senior associate from the Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance.

Rafiza Ghazali is with KAF Investment Bank as the director of digital banking. She joined KAF Investment Bank to spearhead the project team for the incorporation and operational readiness process of the Islamic digital bank entity of the consortium being led by KAF Investment Bank.

Prior to joining KAF Investment Bank, Rafiza was group CEO of Cradle Fund, where she collaborated closely with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Ministry of Finance, tasked with supporting and developing Malaysian start-ups and tech entrepreneurs.

Rafiza’s wealth of experience in innovation and the digital economy makes her uniquely positioned to drive the digital bank value proposition at providing a conducive open-banking platform-based ecosystem to customers and partners.

Rafiza’s academic career includes a Bachelor of Science Economics in Accounting and Finance degree from The London School of Economics and Political Science and a graduate diploma in applied finance and investment majoring in corporate finance from the Securities Institute of Australia. She is also a fellow member of the Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand. She also graduated from the Said Business School at the University of Oxford with a postgraduate diploma in strategy and innovation.

Dean 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.

Marcel 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 (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 (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.

Mustafa 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.

Reza 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.