Ahmed Ali Siddiqui is Senior Executive Vice-President and Head Shariah Compliance, Meezan Bank. Ahmed holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi. His areas of specialization include Islamic Finance and MIS. He has over 22 years of rich Islamic banking experience and is involved in pioneering work in the field of Islamic finance in Pakistan. His major areas of interest are Shariah compliant product development, Sovereign Sukuk and deal structuring, development of innovative solutions for retail, corporate and consumer banking, formulation of policy guidelines, Islamic banking training, Shariah audit, applicative research and Islamic financial advisory services. He is the Founding Director of IBA Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance, an emerging global center for Islamic finance research, academic programs, professional training and industry interaction. He leads one of the largest research departments in the Islamic banking world with around 40 dedicated team members. He is also the Secretary for the Shariah Supervisory Board at Meezan Bank Limited. His previous assignments include the launching of Car Ijarah – Pakistan’s first Islamic car financing scheme and Easy Home – Pakistan’s first Islamic housing finance as Product Manager in Pakistan. Ahmed is also part of the joint financial advisors team to the Government of Pakistan for the issuance of local currency Sovereign Sukuk and Islamic financing transactions and has advised the government in structuring and issuance of Sukuk/Islamic transactions of over US$13 billion dollars. He also led the consortium of Islamic banks in Pakistan for the Issuance of 400 BN First and Second Pakistan Energy Sukuk issued by the Ministry of Energy, Government of Pakistan. Ahmed has served and is also a member of several task forces at the Central Bank level related to Islamic banking products, Islamic banking regulations, governance framework, accounting disclosures and adoption of AAOIFI Shariah standards. He is also actively involved in Islamic banking training activities and has conducted various training sessions, corporate workshops and seminars on different Islamic Banking topics. Ahmed is a frequent speaker on Islamic banking at the National Institute of Banking and Finance (State Bank of Pakistan), Export Promotion Bureau, LUMS and Center of Islamic Economics (CIE), Karachi and has conducted several specialized workshops in UAE, Bahrain, Malaysia, Australia and the UK.

Azeem Pirani is the COO and Executive Director at EFU Life Assurance Limited. Prior to this he was the CEO at Pak-Qatar Family Takaful. On the social front he is one of the founding trustees at Ihsaas Trust, a provider of microfinance, for developing a sustainable livelihood for the economically challenged, and social support.

A PGD in Islamic Banking & Finance from the Centre of Islamic Economics in Pakistan, an MBA in International Business from the University of New Brunswick in Canada, and a BBA in Finance from the University of Houston in the USA are his academic credentials. He is also a Certified Director, under the SECP’s Listed Companies Regulations, from the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants (ICMA).

Muhammad Faisal Shaikh is the Head, Shariah Compliance & Advisory at Faysal Bank Limited. Faysal Bank Limited recently completed conversion of its entire conventional banking business into a full-fledged Islamic Bank. Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA) recognized this conversion as ‘First of its scale’ conversion in the domain of Islamic Banking, globally. As Head of Islamic Banking at Faysal Bank Limited, he played key role in the conversion process and ensured smooth conversion of the bank’s business. A graduate of Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, he has almost 24 years of experience in the field of Shariah Structuring, Compliance and Product Development. Prior to joining Faysal Bank he was associated with BankIslami Pakistan Limited and Meezan Bank Limited as part of founding teams. He has been instrumental in development of various pioneering Islamic Corporate & Consumer Banking Products and Sukuks structures in Pakistan including Islamic Export Refinance Scheme of State Bank of Pakistan and Pakistan’s inaugural sovereign International Sukuk. He led the team which converted conventional assets and liabilities of KASB Bank Limited after its acquisition by BankIslami Pakistan Limited. Prior to this, his team structured acquisition and conversion of Citibank Pakistan’s conventional housing finance portfolio by BankIslami Pakistan Limited. He was part of Meezan Bank’s founding team and was an active member of the team responsible for conversion and merger of Pakistan operations of Societe Generale into Meezan Bank Limited. He also played an important role in development of pioneering Commercial Banking products under Islamic modes of Finance. Given his experience in Conversion process, SBP has nominated him as member of multiple Working Groups of Committee for Transformation of Conventional Banking into Islamic.

Dr Muhammad Imran Ashraf Usmani graduated with specialisation in Islamic Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) from Jamia Darul-Uloom, Karachi, where he has been teaching Fiqh since 1990. He also holds an L.L.B and Ph.D. in Islamic finance. Dr. Imran Usmani is the Group Head and Vice Chairman of Shariah Supervisory board at Meezan Bank Ltd. He is also the Resident Sharia Board Member at Meezan Bank and is responsible for Research and Product Development of Islamic banking products, advisory for Sharia-compliant banking and supervision of Sharia Audit & Compliance. He is also the President and CEO of Usmani & Co. Pvt. Ltd that provides full suite of Islamic finance consultancy, Shariah advisory and related ancillary services to local and international clients across all legal jurisdictions and financial and non-financial sectors. Dr. Imran Usmani has been involved with the Government of Pakistan in various initiatives and is also a member of the Steering Committee and implementation committee for promotion of Islamic Banking since 2013.

Muhammad Shoaib Ibrahim is the CEO of First Habib Modaraba, a 30 year old entity that has successfully maintained its leading position within Modaraba sector of Pakistan. Under his leadership FHM has positioned itself in the Islamic financial market with a strong equity base, sound assets size and profitability. FHM holds a strong credit rating scale of AA+ in long term and A1+ in short term. Moreover, FHM has secured several awards/accolades from reputable bodies such as NBFI and Modaraba Association, ICAP and ICMAP, Management Association of Pakistan, and SAFA an apex body of SAARC during his tenor as CEO of FHM. With more than two decades’ experience in non-bank Islamic financial institutions and Modarabas, he is a senior expert on this topic in Pakistan. This experience has given him insight into the financial and technical aspects of the non-banking Islamic financial activities covering financial services, equity market and asset management. Mr. Shoaib holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in banking and finance from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA). He has also completed a Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Islamic Banking from the Centre of Islamic Economics (Darul Ulum), Karachi Pakistan.

Muhammad Zeeshan Farrukh has rich combination of qualification i.e. commerce, business administration, Islamic Finance & Islamic Studies and diversified experience of more than 18 years in the field of Islamic Banking & Finance with respect to Product Development, Shariah Compliance, Research, Teaching, Training, Advisory etc.

He has served various financial institutions i.e. BankIslami Pakistan Limited, United Bank Limited, Al Baraka Bank Pakistan Limited, National Bank of Pakistan and Bank Makramah Limited. Currently, he is working as Head Shariah Compliance Department & Secretary Shariah Board at Bank Makramah Limited. Besides banking experience, he also holds a position as Director – Research, Learning & Advisory Management at Global Institute of Shariah Research & Advisory Services (GISRAS) and serving as Adjunct Faculty at Institute of Business Management, Karachi

Mustafa Adil is the Head of Islamic Finance for the London Stock Exchange Group. He is responsible for leading the Islamic finance business for the organization, providing knowledge solutions and bespoke services to support the continued growth of the Islamic finance industry. He works in collaboration with government entities, multilateral organizations and financial institutions to support them in fulfilling their aspirations and executing their strategies in the Islamic finance space. These include the delivery of content solutions, research, consulting services and market engagement. He also spearheads the development of new initiatives or services that meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of the industry across markets

Tariq Naseem is a fellow member of Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP). He also holds Chartered Islamic Finance Professional degree from INCEIF, Malaysia and MS-Islamic Banking and Finance from International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI). He is currently perusing his PhD in Islamic Banking and Finance from IIUI.

Naseem has an extensive experience of more than 24 years in the field of capital market. He is currently serving as Head of Islamic Finance Department and Registrar Modaraba at SECP. Previously he has served in various departments on SECP including International Relations Department, Chairman’s Secretariat, and Policy, Regulations and Development Department of Securities Market Division. Before joining SECP in 2007, he worked with a leading stock brokerage house of Islamabad Stock Exchange for a period of more than 9 years.

Tayyaba Rasheed is Investment Specialist, Private Sector Operations Department at Asian Development Bank. Previously, she held the position of executive vice-president/head of the Investment Banking Group at Faysal Bank. She is highly qualified with more than 20 years of diversified corporate and investment banking experience, and a proven successful career in investment banking, corporate banking and corporate finance with profound skills in project financing, infrastructure financing, Sukuk issuance, syndication, capital markets, credit risk and Islamic finance. She is a well-known corporate and investment banker with an exceptional track record of closing large-ticket complex deals and is focused on delivering results across the board. She has closed and led several key mandates in the infrastructure financing area, in particular the renewable energy space. She has worked in senior positions at CIBG NBP and Bank Alfalah where she started her career as a management trainee officer. Tayyaba holds an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration and is a CFA and FRM charter holder. She holds a junior associateship from the Institute of Bankers Pakistan. She successfully completed the National Institute of Banking and Finance certification program and underwent a thorough Islamic finance training program. She has also completed the Directors Training Program and is now a certified independent director. Tayyaba also serves as an independent board director on the boards of several listed companies.