Ahmad Shahizam Mohd Shariff is a senior investment and management professional with over 29 years of experience in investment management, Islamic banking and healthcare. As a general partner of Mekar Capital, he focuses on investing in growth-stage companies in the healthcare, education, technology and Shariah fintech sectors. He is also the chairman of the investment panel of Dana Penjana, an investment fund by the Malaysian government, and an independent board member of the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council, a wholly-owned entity of the Malaysian Ministry of Health.

Ahmad began his career in banking with HSBC Malaysia as a resident manager, and later moved to investment management, taking on the role of equity research analyst at ING Barings covering Malaysian listed companies, and the same at Solomon Smith Barney afterward.

As the director and head of Islamic capital markets for HSBC Amanah in Southeast Asia, Ahmad led Sukuk and equity capital market origination activities, including the first issuance of Malaysian ringgit-denominated corporate Sukuk Ijarah.

Ahmad has a Master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Ahsan Ali is responsible for the global Islamic corporate and institutional banking business at Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). Since joining SCB in March 2004, he has built this business from inception and has led several award-winning and industry-defining transactions. Ahsan has over 24 years of experience in the financial services industry, of which the last 14 have been in Islamic banking.

Ahsan holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and a degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in addition to a CFA [chartered financial analyst] designation.

Areeb Siddiqui is the founder and CEO of Kestrl, the No 1 software helping Islamic banks to digitally transform and offer personalized experiences to their customers. Before launching Kestrl, Areeb was a management consultant at Deloitte and PwC, specializing in developing fintech strategies for banks and wealth managers. Areeb holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from University College London.

Arshadur Rahman is a senior manager in the Bank of England’s Data and Statistics Division, and is the bank’s specialist in Islamic finance. He was a co-author of the Financial Services Authority of the UK’s 2007 regulatory paper on Islamic finance and has previously supervised Islamic banks in the UK.

Arshadur also led the design and implementation of the Bank of England’s Alternative Liquidity Facility, the first non-interest-based central bank deposit facility established by a Western central bank which launched in 2021. He is a visiting research fellow in Islamic finance at King’s Business School in London.

Asal Saghari is the counsel of the corporate, finance and investments practice. Asal has extensive experience in banking and finance. Her areas of practice include finance, Islamic finance and secured and unsecured lending, with a particular focus on advising sponsors, lenders and borrowers in connection with their lending and investment activities in Europe and the Middle East structured on both a conventional and Shariah compliant basis. Asal joined King & Spalding’s London office in 2008 from one of London’s leading international law firms.

Farmida Bi is the chair of Norton Rose Fulbright, as well as the European head of Islamic finance, and has specialized in Islamic finance and capital market transactions for over 30 years. She has advised the government of Pakistan on its issuance of more than US$10.5 billion of bonds and Sukuk over the past eight years, as well as on many first-of-their-kind structures that helped establish the Islamic capital markets. Farmida was named in the ‘Hall of Fame’ for Islamic finance and debt capital markets in Legal 500 UK 2022; was listed in The Financial News ’50 Most Influential Lawyers 2022’; and was awarded with a CBE [Commander of the Order of the British Empire] for services to law and charity during the Queen’s 2020 Birthday Honours. She is a graduate of Downing College, Cambridge.

Khaled Khalifa is a professional humanitarian worker with more than 25 years of experience in relief and development. He has led humanitarian operations in various settings of natural disasters and complex emergencies.

Khaled is currently pursuing a PhD in management leadership and organizational strategy. He holds an MA degree in English Literature & Humanities, an MSc in sustainable development and a Diploma in project management. He is a renowned international trainer in disaster management and an expert speaker on humanitarian and Middle Eastern affairs. Khaled leads UNHCR’s Islamic philanthropy activities globally and has been instrumental in the success of the Refugee Zakat Fund.

Apart from being a director of DDCAP and its subsidiaries, DD&Co and DDGI, Laurence is also a director of DDCAP (DIFC).

Lawrence has more than 25 years of experience working in the Islamic finance market. He joined DDCAP in April 1998. Previously, he was an assistant manager at Kleinwort Benson responsible for Islamic finance and investment activity. Lawrence manages the company’s business development and trading desks and has extensive experience in arranging asset-based transactions which conform to Shariah stipulation.

Lawrence specializes in Shariah compliant structured finance and asset origination. His broad knowledge in the physical commodity sector has enabled him to advance the traditional merchant trading capabilities of DD&Co for the benefit of institutional clients operating within the Islamic financial sector. Lawrence is a regular speaker at many annual Islamic conferences held in the GCC, Southeast Asia and Europe.

Lim Say Cheong is CEO of Saudi Venture Capital Investment Company, a fully-fledged Shariah compliant investment company, licensed by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) of Saudi Arabia. Lim brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience of more than 25 years from the financial services and capital market industry.

Lim was formerly CEO of Lootah Global Capital, a financial services company owned by Lootah Holding and licensed by the Dubai International Financial Centre. Lim previously worked for more than a decade as an Islamic banker in the UAE, first with Noor Islamic Bank as the executive director for global markets and then he served as the executive vice-president and head of investment banking with Al Hilal Bank.

Lim graduated from the prestigious INSEAD Business School (France) with an Executive MBA. He also holds the Diploma in Islamic Finance from CIMA UK and a Bachelor of Science degree with double majors in mathematics and quantitative economics from the University of Sydney, Australia.

A renowned Islamic finance practitioner and industry thought leader, Lim contributes articles on Islamic finance regularly and has been invited to speak in conferences around the world.

Luma Saqqaf is a recognized sustainable finance consultant in the MENA region and is called upon by corporates, financial institutions, funds and asset managers to advise on aspects of sustainable value creation, sustainable and ESG strategy and its integration into their business. She also counsels regulators and financial markets in the MENA region on sustainable finance regulations and the development of the capital markets in the MENA region.

Luma has been at the forefront of finance, Islamic finance, sustainability and entrepreneurship in the MENA region and Europe for three decades. A former partner and global head of Islamic finance at Magic Circle law firm Linklaters, she has more than 20 years of experience in legal practice, including practicing at the two Magic Circle law firms, Allen & Overy and Linklaters, where she was a finance partner and global head of the Islamic Finance Group. She led teams across Europe, the Middle East and Asia on groundbreaking transactions covering finance and capital markets including Shariah compliant Sukuk (bonds), loans, securitization and structured finance, derivatives and fund transactions.

Luma is now CEO of Ajyal Sustainability Consulting and is also a regular speaker at conferences and contributor to articles on the topics of sustainable finance in the MENA region.

Luma is also the founder of investment group Ajyal Group and ethical luxury womenswear brand BYLUMA and has advised and mentored several social enterprises in the MENA region. She holds a Master of Law degree from the University of Bristol in the UK, and a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Jordan, and has attended the Harvard executive business education program (YPO Harvard Business Leadership Program 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019).

Martina Macpherson is the head of ESG product management within the Financial Information Business Unit at SIX, the exchange group that operates the Swiss and Spanish stock exchanges. She has over 20 years of sustainable finance experience in industry and academia, and is an award-winning ESG influencer, researcher, incubator and entrepreneur.

Martina has an MBA in finance and business from the London School of Business and Finance in the UK, and a Master of Arts degree in law and human sciences from the University of Frankfurt in Germany.

Martina is an academic lecturer, writer and public speaker in sustainable investing and has co-authored a range of ESG and fintech books, including ‘The AI Book’ (Wiley, 2020), among others. She sits on the board of the Future of Sustainable Data Alliance, the industry’s leading body for the ESG data, ratings and index industry.

For her work in sustainable finance and leadership, Martina was awarded the title of ‘Top 50 Woman in Finance’ by the World Finance Forum in 2022. For SIX, she has won two ESG-related Strategy (by Finance Magnates) and Initiatives (A Team Insight) Awards in 2022.

Mike Tirman is a partner in Ice Miller’s Real Estate Group and advises and represents clients in all areas of real estate law, including acquisitions and dispositions, financing (including various forms of Shariah compliant financing), ground leasing, development, land use and zoning, entity structuring and joint ventures.

Some of Mike’s representative transactions include, among others, r
epresenting a buyer in a US$195 million Shariah compliant acquisition and CMBS financing of a portfolio of 30 industrial properties, representing a landlord in a US$104 million refinance of a portfolio of four industrial properties in New Jersey encumbered by ground leases and representing a REIT in a US$30 million acquisition of a parking garage and execution of a reverse 1031 exchange.

Mike is licensed to practice law in Illinois and Indiana.

Dr Mohamed Damak is a senior director of financial services at S&P Global Ratings. He covers financial institutions in the Middle East and Africa. Dr Mohamed is also the global head of Islamic finance at S&P Global Ratings, leading a global team of Islamic finance analysts.

Before rejoining S&P Global Ratings, Dr Mohamed worked as a principal credit risk officer for the African Development Bank in Tunis. From 2006 to 2010, he worked for S&P Global Ratings covering conventional and Islamic financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Dr Mohamed holds a PhD in finance and a Master’s degree in money, banking and finance from University of Paris 2, Pantheon Assas and a Master’s degree in financial institutions management from Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Tunis.

Dr Mohammed R Kroessin is a development economist with 20 years of experience of working with Islamic development and financial institutions on strategies for sustainable development and social impact. He has worked for the Chamber of Commerce and the Centre for Enterprise in the UK, was assistant CEO of Muslim Aid and is now the founder of GEMicro, an Islamic social finance advisory firm. He also heads the Islamic Relief Worldwide Global Islamic Microfinance Unit where he leads a portfolio of 10 country financial inclusion programs.

Dr Mohammed holds a Master’s degree in international political economy from the University of Kent, UK and a Master’s degree in development management from Westminster Business School, UK. He completed his PhD at the University of Birmingham, UK in Islamic development finance. He is currently a lecturer in Islamic microfinance at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Germany. Dr Mohammed has worked with Islamic development finance institutions in Africa, Asia and the Middle East and sits on the board of two microfinance institutions in the Balkans. His is also presently director of the UK Financial Inclusion Forum.

Mohammed Saifullah Khan is an accomplished Islamic banking and finance expert with versatile experience in the Islamic banking, finance and legal industries. He is CEO of Dar Al Sharia, the world’s leading Islamic finance advisory firm. Dar Al Sharia has achieved robust growth and recognition across the Islamic finance industry for rendering innovative and bespoke Shariah advisory solutions to its global clientele. Mohammed has a proven track record in leading multidisciplinary teams across Islamic finance advisory and law with a specialization in structuring and documenting landmark Islamic finance products and transactions across the following focus areas: Sukuk; Islamic funds; Islamic syndications (project finance); Islamic swaps; Islamic trusts; structured, corporate and retail Islamic products; and on matters of Shariah governance. Mohammed believes that the principal driver for the growth of Islamic finance is responsible innovation directed at addressing the evolving stakeholder needs and it is his focus to act as a catalyst in this regard.

Munirah Khairuddin joined Principal Malaysia in November 2006 and was later appointed as deputy CEO in November 2008. Then, Munirah was responsible for the development of institutional, corporate and international business opportunities and institutional sales. She previously worked as a G7 economist and strategist for a Fortune 500 multinational oil and gas company.

Munirah was appointed as CEO and executive director on the 15^th May 2013. In March 2023, Munirah was appointed as the head of the global Islamic business for Principal Group.

Munirah was named as ‘CEO of the Year, Malaysia’ in Asia Asset Management’s 2015 Best of the Best Awards for the second year in a row. Munirah was also selected as one of the recipients for the ‘Top 25 Women of Asset Management’ award by Asian Investor in 2014.

Munirah is a chartered financial analyst charterholder and holds the Capital Markets Services Representative’s License for fund management. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in accounting and financial analysis from the University of Newcastle in the UK.

Nasser Al Thekair is the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC)’s general manager of trade and business development. He is responsible for leading the trade promotion and facilitation arm of the ITFC, growing intra-trade among member countries and enhancing the development impact. Additionally, He leads the ITFC’s efforts to develop new business lines and products, foster innovation and build strategic relationships with key development partners to create new markets and mobilize resources for the ITFC’s trade development initiatives.

Nasser’s main achievement in Islamic finance in his previous roles relates to supervising the structuring of several transactions that won international recognition from Islamic Finance news, Euromoney and Global Trade Review.

Nasser is a member of the executive committees of the Arab Africa Trade Bridges Program and Trade Development Fund; in addition he represents the ITFC in the board of Aid for Trade Initiative for Arab States.

Nasser holds a Bachelor’s degree in engineering from King AbdulAziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and an MBA from the University of Leicester School of Management in the UK. He also has executive education credentials from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland as well as the corporate director certification from Harvard Business School, Boston, in the US.

Dr Natalie Schoon is a results-driven professional with a varied background across the financial industry including investment banking, treasury change management, capital adequacy, wholesale banknote operations, regulatory change (Basel Accords), risk management, compliance and Islamic finance. She has lived and worked in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Africa and works for both small and large international organizations globally.

Among others, Natalie was responsible for the design, implementation, management and succession planning for the Islamic financial infrastructure for the Agricultural Development Fund (a USAID-funded program in Afghanistan) and has been instrumental in the design of a stand-alone solution for access to finance for women (Zahra).

Natalie has managed training in credit risk, capital structure, statistics, economics and financial markets for a wide range of organizations globally. Natalie works closely with the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment in the UK on regulatory workbooks for, among others, Cyprus, Dubai, Qatar, Palestine and Kuwait. She has worked on the minimum capital standards for mortgage lending in Pakistan to promote the primary and secondary mortgage market (The World Bank) and successfully designed the new rules and regulations for trading in Sukuk and derivatives as well as short-selling for the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nick Edmondes has been the resident managing partner of Trowers’s Kuala Lumpur office since 2015 when the firm became the first foreign law firm to be granted a qualified foreign law firm license in Malaysia. Nick’s 36 years of experience includes major infrastructure project development and finance, privatization, corporate structuring, restructuring and cross-border investment, particularly in real estate.

Nick has worked in London and Trowers’s overseas offices, and in the 1990s, Nick established the firm’s Islamic Finance Group, which has grown to be recognized as a First Tier practice in the Legal 500 directory of law firms. He remains a key client partner for a number of international Islamic financial institutions.

Nick has been recognized as a ‘Notable Practitioner in Islamic Finance’ in the Chambers & Partners Legal Directory 2014, and as a ‘Legal Expert in the field of Project Energy and Natural Resources (including PFI)’ in the Legal Business: Legal Experts directory 2010. Nick has written many articles and has spoken regularly on a variety of topics in the UK, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, among many other countries, on diverse subjects from inward investment to the UK to private sector financing for the public sector and Islamic finance.

Nitish Bhojnagarwala is a senior vice-president with Moody’s Financial Institutions Group. Based in Dubai, Nitish covers a portfolio of large conventional as well as Islamic financial institutions in the Middle East, Africa and Turkiye. Nitish joined Moody’s in 2011 and has led Sukuk roundtables and conducted workshops on banking and Islamic finance at various conferences in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Nitish has also authored several research pieces, with a focus on regional banking, credit issues and issuer-in-depths for conventional as well as Islamic banks. Prior to joining Moody’s, Nitish spent five years at Tamweel in the Treasury Department. He has also worked for KPMG in the UAE, where he covered financial institutions. Nitish holds an MBA from SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, with a major in finance (investment banking).

Omar Shaikh is the founder and CEO of COCOA, a global Islamic compliant digital wealth manager building the future of ethical and Shariah digital financial services. The company is the first to fully incorporate institutional-quality asset management with a focus on delivering affordable, accessible and high-quality products for investors. He previously was part of the investment team at Schroders NewFinance, a multibillion dollar alternative asset manager covering a range of strategies. Omar has also lived and worked in the Middle East, with COCOA’s head office located in the City of London with supporting operations in the Nordics.

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.

Raza Ullah is CEO and founder of Pfida (‘fai-dah’), an Islamic fintech offering partnership-based finance and savings solution to the masses, powered by its bespoke tech platform. A qualified actuary by profession, with over 17 years of actuarial experience, Raza has previously worked within consultancy at PwC, where he advised multinational blue-chip organizations on technical reserving processes and capital validation. He has worked in-house within the Lloyd’s of London marketplace as a technical capital modeling actuary utilizing stochastic Monte Carlo simulation methodologies to quantify risk based on thousands of calibrated possible outcomes. He has further gained regulatory experience at the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulatory Authority where he was a risk specialist overseeing best practices across the industry for risk measurement and quantification.

Raza progressed rapidly through to senior roles within the London financial marketplace, having passed every actuarial exam first time and within three years (a very rare accomplishment). Consequently, he saw how different businesses work from the lenses of a consultant, in-house specialist and regulator, and across many different levels all the way up to high-performing boardrooms. Raza gave up his full-time actuarial career in 2016 to pursue setting up and running Pfida, in order to bring a revolutionary solution to a real-world problem.

Dr Scott Levy is the managing director of Al Waseelah, an award-winning Shariah compliant Sukuk issuance platform which includes structuring, arranging, originating and listing Sukuk. Al Waseelah was established in 2017 as a tech-savvy and cost-effective way to create Shariah compliant financial instruments, democratizing the process for issuers and investors.

Al Waseelah provides flexible and quick-to-market solutions for green and sustainable businesses, financial institutions, asset managers, corporations and family offices. The company’s focus is on Islamic liquidity management and offering a diverse range of investment opportunities, and is committed to thought leadership in the sector through IFN and International Islamic Financial Market.

Al Waseelah is leading the way in integrating ESG/SDG principles into Sukuk, and offers Shariah compliant products like XTCC, which is the world’s first exchange-traded high-quality carbon credit investment sourced from verified renewable energy.

Dr Scott is a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers and the Worshipful Company of Musicians, a member of Lincoln’s Inn and a senior member of Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Shakeel Adli is the founder and CEO of Zunikh. He is a qualified solicitor and spent over 18 years working at various international law firms in London and Dubai. He was most recently a partner and global head of Islamic finance at CMS.

Having been involved in real estate both personally and professionally for more than two decades, Shakeel has experience with all real estate asset classes. He is a firm believer in the power of real estate to change people’s lives and founded Zunikh in 2019 with the intention of creating a truly unique property development and investment offering.

Shakeel personifies Zunikh’s passion for real estate and doing things differently. He conducts business in a fair, honest and approachable way and seeks to develop long-term mutually beneficial relationships with everyone that he works with.
As CEO, Shakeel has the overall responsibility for the strategy and direction of Zunikh.

Simon Meldrum is responsible for developing alternative financial instruments to unlock private capital in support of humanitarian challenges for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). He is the executive director and co-founder of the Humanitarian Finance Forum, and the advisor to the Humanitarian Innovative Finance Hub in Copenhagen.

Prior to the IFRC, Simon managed a GBP45 million (US$57.11 million) blended social investment fund at Access Foundation, and chaired the investment committee of Community Impact Partnership until 2020. He has significant experience in social/impact investing, following a career in banking and international capital markets where he advised and arranged all types of investments. He was awarded a scholarship for his MBA at London Business School and is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin.

Sultan Choudhury has over 30 years of experience in professional and financial services. He is executive chairman of OFFA, UK’s first Shariah compliant bridging finance provider and chairman of the National Zakat Foundation. He was CEO of Al Rayan Bank for eight years driving profitability and scaling up operations to achieve exponential growth through a real estate financing strategy.
Sultan is a chartered accountant with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in economics and econometrics from the University of Nottingham, an MBA with distinction from Aston University as well as two honorary Doctorates. Sultan was awarded OBE for his work in Islamic Finance. He is also a chartered member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

Dr Sutan Emir Hidayat is currently the director of the Islamic Economy Supporting Ecosystem at the National Committee for Islamic Economy and Finance, the Republic of Indonesia. During 2019–20, he was the director of education and research at the National Committee for Islamic Finance.

Prior to that, Dr Sutan was an associate professor and the head of the Business School at the University College of Bahrain. He is actively engaged with academic research in his field and has presented several research papers at reputable international conferences such as the 11th Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance at Harvard Law School, Massachusetts, in the US; and the Gulf Research Meeting at the University of Cambridge in the UK, among others. He was listed in leading advisory firm for Islamic markets ISFIN’s directory named Islamica 500 as one of the top 500 influential personalities on a global scale in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Dr Sutan obtained both his MBA and PhD in Islamic banking and finance from the International Islamic University Malaysia.

Dr Usman Chaudry joined Gatehouse Bank as the chief risk officer in January 2018. Prior to this, he was the risk director at Tandem, a fintech bank, responsible for risk management and compliance; and part of the management team that completed the acquisition of Harrods Bank. Prior to Tandem, Dr Usman held the role of global head of risk governance and policy at Standard Chartered, responsible for risk oversight across some 80 countries. Prior to this, he was at KPMG advising UK banks on financial services risk and regulatory matters, including financial services corporate transactions; and at Barclays and GE Capital helping to set up greenfield operations and risk management in retail and commercial businesses across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He started his career at FICO, where he used advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to help banks drive better decisions. Usman holds a PhD in computational chemistry from the University of Manchester.

Vineeta Tan is managing editor and a director of REDmoney Group, one of the world’s longest-running Islamic finance media houses. Vineeta oversees REDmoney Group’s stable of products including Islamic Finance news, IFN Fintech and Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment.

With over a decade of experience in the journalism and publishing industry, Vineeta specializes in ethical and Islamic finance as well as fintech reporting and analysis covering regions including the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

As managing editor of IFN, Vineeta leads the editorial direction and business development of IFN and its sister publications in addition to authoring reports, producing podcasts and conducting video interviews. She has interviewed senior industry players, key stakeholders and senior dignitaries including the finance/economic ministers of the Ivory Coast, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Vineeta is a regular on the international conference circuit as both a moderator and speaker. She has an MBA and is trained in journalism and sociology. Vineeta also holds the Islamic Finance Qualification awarded by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments,UK.

Zakky Bantan is the head of funding in the Treasury Department at the IsDB. He is responsible for overseeing IsDB funding through Sukuk issuance and derivatives operations in the international capital markets and managing overall investor relations. He has more than 15 years of professional experience with various institutions including Alshaya Group, Bank Al-Jazira and the IsDB, where he joined as a young professional in 2009. Overall, he has a profound understanding of debt capital markets, corporate finance and trade finance. He played an instrumental role in cementing the profile of the IsDB as a frequent SSA [supranational, sovereign and agency] borrower in the international capital markets with 60-plus transactions worth over US$35 billion in public issuances and private placements. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in international business from King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, and an MBA in finance from Cleveland State University, Ohio, in the US. He was a recipient of the King Abdullah full scholarship program and was in the first batch of graduates under the program. Zakky received his Primary Market Certificate from the International Capital Market Association in 2013.

With a career that spans more than 28 years, predominantly in corporate advisory, and with work experience in six countries throughout Asia, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, Zalina has been a strong advocate for sustainable finance in the last eight years. Zalina’s primary area of strength is market development through positioning and creating opportunities for new markets and product innovation. In her last role with the Securities Commission Malaysia, she was pivotal in the creation of capacity development programs that looked at building the financial sector’s technical expertise and experience in sustainable finance. A major focus was also to support the industry and the regulator’s effort to build recognition of Islamic finance as responsible finance. Zalina holds an MBA in finance from CASS Business School of the UK and is a fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants.

Amir Firdaus has been at the forefront of the growth in Islamic finance in the UK. The chartered accountant’s 20-year career has been across high-profile roles for legacy-free challenger banks, with an expanding reach in the personal, SME and intermediary banking sectors with a focus on business models and strategy. Amir has worked for Aldermore, Al Rayan and Sainsbury’s Bank. Amir has structured numerous Sukuk transactions and led the residential mortgage-backed security issuance at Al Rayan Bank. While the head of asset and liability management at Aldermore Bank, he facilitated its balance sheet growth from GBP150 million (US$177.37 million) to GBP4.5 billion (US$5.32 billion).

Henry MacNevin, who is based in London, is currently an associate managing director responsible for bank ratings in the Middle-East, Southeastern Europe and Turkiye, and is also responsible for Moody’s Investors Service’s global Islamic finance initiatives. Henry joined Moody’s London-based banking team in October 1996, initially as a lead analyst for banks in Italy, the UK, the Nordic region, Belgium, Luxembourg and Hungary, and has also worked as a backup analyst for other banking systems, principally in Europe. He was also previously the associate managing director for Moody’s bank ratings in Italy and the CEE region and was the country manager for Moody’s in Italy for several years. Henry’s previous banking experience includes seven years with the Barclays Group, where he held positions in strategic planning, corporate banking and credit risk management. He earned a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in business studies from Portsmouth Polytechnic in the UK.

Dr Natalie Schoon is a results-driven professional with a varied background across the financial industry including investment banking, treasury change management, capital adequacy, wholesale banknote operations, regulatory change (Basel Accords), risk management, compliance and Islamic finance. She has lived and worked in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Africa and works for both small and large international organizations globally.

Among others, Natalie was responsible for the design, implementation, management and succession planning for the Islamic financial infrastructure for the Agricultural Development Fund (a USAID-funded program in Afghanistan) and has been instrumental in the design of a stand-alone solution for access to finance for women (Zahra).

Natalie has managed training in credit risk, capital structure, statistics, economics and financial markets for a wide range of organizations globally. Natalie works closely with the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment in the UK on regulatory workbooks for, among others, Cyprus, Dubai, Qatar, Palestine and Kuwait. She has worked on the minimum capital standards for mortgage lending in Pakistan to promote the primary and secondary mortgage market (The World Bank) and successfully designed the new rules and regulations for trading in Sukuk and derivatives as well as short-selling for the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission.

Richard Thomas (OBE, FCSI) is the managing director of Sustainable Economy Limited (SEL), his own think tank and consultancy based on his experiences in Islamic finance and economics. His most recent research was on the impact Gharar and Jehala on sustainable business planning, risk management and the role of artificial intelligence and big data. Richard has over 40 years of experience working in direct Shariah compliant banking and investment management and his current work is related to Shariah compliant infrastructure investment.

Prior to SEL, Richard was the chairman and CEO of Gatehouse Bank. In 2010, Richard received his Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his contributions to the UK Islamic financial services industry. Richard’s principal employers prior to Gatehouse Bank were Saudi International Bank, United Bank of Kuwait, Arab Banking Corporation and Brown Shipley Merchant Bank.

Richard is a fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) and he has been an INCIEF governing council member and a board member of the Financial Services Professional Board (Malaysia).

Dr Scott Levy is the managing director of Al Waseelah, an award-winning Shariah compliant Sukuk issuance platform which includes structuring, arranging, originating and listing Sukuk. Al Waseelah was established in 2017 as a tech-savvy and cost-effective way to create Shariah compliant financial instruments, democratizing the process for issuers and investors.

Al Waseelah provides flexible and quick-to-market solutions for green and sustainable businesses, financial institutions, asset managers, corporations and family offices. The company’s focus is on Islamic liquidity management and offering a diverse range of investment opportunities, and is committed to thought leadership in the sector through IFN and International Islamic Financial Market.

Al Waseelah is leading the way in integrating ESG/SDG principles into Sukuk, and offers Shariah compliant products like XTCC, which is the world’s first exchange-traded high-quality carbon credit investment sourced from verified renewable energy.

Dr Scott is a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers and the Worshipful Company of Musicians, a member of Lincoln’s Inn and a senior member of Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Stella Cox CBE has worked within the Islamic financial marketplace for more than 30 years. Since 1998, she has been the managing director of DDCAP Group, which is a leading provider of capital market intermediary services and related technology solutions to Islamic financial market institutions.

Since 2015, Stella has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the RFI Foundation, which acts as a catalyst to link together responsible and Islamic finance, and she represents DDCAP within the Islamic finance and the UN Sustainable Development Goals Taskforce, the inaugural meeting of which took place in July 2020, convened by the Islamic Finance Council UK in partnership with the UK government. Since 2014, Stella has been the chair of the Islamic Finance Market Advisory Group formed by TheCityUK and she represents DDCAP on the UK Islamic Fintech Panel.

In June 2016, Stella was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Stella was honored for her services to the economy and, specifically, as a champion for the development of Islamic finance in the UK. Stella was ranked No 1 among the ‘100 Most Influential Women in Islamic Finance’ in the ISFIRE ‘WOMANi 2018′ Report and was appointed patron-in-chief of WOMANi in April 2019. In July 2019, Stella became a Freeman of the City of London.

Tom Reynolds is a partner in the International Corporate Department of Trowers & Hamlins. Tom has been working with Trowers & Hamlins for over 13 years and has gained a broad range of experience advising on cross-border investment, financing and commercial transactions.

Tom’s main focus is on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity, equity capital markets and joint ventures, supporting flows of capital across various regions including the UK, Middle East and Southeast Asia. Often, this involves a significant element of Shariah structuring. Tom also has expertise in advising clients on international commercial contracts including franchise, distribution and agency agreements.

Tom has advised a range of clients, including governmental institutions, banks, fund and asset managers, institutional investors, operating businesses and high-net-worth individuals, in a variety of sectors including real estate, fund management, private equity, financial services, wholesale Islamic and conventional banking, telecommunications, food and beverage, insurance, industrial and aviation.

Dr Usman Chaudry joined Gatehouse Bank as the chief risk officer in January 2018. Prior to this, he was the risk director at Tandem, a fintech bank, responsible for risk management and compliance; and part of the management team that completed the acquisition of Harrods Bank. Prior to Tandem, Dr Usman held the role of global head of risk governance and policy at Standard Chartered, responsible for risk oversight across some 80 countries. Prior to this, he was at KPMG advising UK banks on financial services risk and regulatory matters, including financial services corporate transactions; and at Barclays and GE Capital helping to set up greenfield operations and risk management in retail and commercial businesses across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He started his career at FICO, where he used advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to help banks drive better decisions. Usman holds a PhD in computational chemistry from the University of Manchester.

With a career that spans more than 28 years, predominantly in corporate advisory, and with work experience in six countries throughout Asia, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, Zalina has been a strong advocate for sustainable finance in the last eight years. Zalina’s primary area of strength is market development through positioning and creating opportunities for new markets and product innovation. In her last role with the Securities Commission Malaysia, she was pivotal in the creation of capacity development programs that looked at building the financial sector’s technical expertise and experience in sustainable finance. A major focus was also to support the industry and the regulator’s effort to build recognition of Islamic finance as responsible finance. Zalina holds an MBA in finance from CASS Business School of the UK and is a fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants.