Prior to joining TheCityUK, Nicola was general manager leading a team across the Americas as well as Deputy Consul General and Global Diversity Champion for the Australian Trade and Investment Commission. She has led a 90-strong team based across North and South America and managed five consulates.

She has held senior positions across Asia, Europe and Australia leading international business development for the Australian Government. These include her roles as Minister Commercial as well as Senior Trade & Investment Commissioner in New Delhi; Consul General and Senior Trade & Investment Commissioner in Frankfurt; and global manager of Investment in Melbourne. She is a regular speaker on trade and investment policies at academic institutions.

Bashar Al Natoor, as the global head of Fitch Ratings’s Islamic finance, is responsible for coordinating all Islamic finance activities across the agency’s sovereign, financial institutions, corporate, structured finance, infrastructure and insurance teams, bringing together dedicated analytical and industry expertise into a centralized and focused Islamic finance group.

Bashar has more than 19 years of experience in the Islamic finance market. Since joining Fitch in 2007, he has overseen Fitch’s Sukuk criteria and Islamic finance practices, undertaken research and written numerous published articles on Islamic finance. He joined Fitch as a director in the EMEA Corporates Group based in Dubai, and was responsible for analyzing EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) issuers, with a focus on Middle Eastern and Turkish issuers in the construction, property and telecommunication sectors.

Prior to joining Fitch, Bashar spent seven years at the IsDB in key roles including investment officer in the treasury department; senior credit analyst in risk management; and senior technical assistant to the vice-president of finance and administration. Before working with the IsDB, he was a senior auditor for four years in accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

Bashar graduated with a Master of Science degree in banking and financial studies from the Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, and a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and banking from Al-Ahliyya Amman University. He is a certified bank auditor, certified risk professional, chartered market analyst and certified risk analyst.

Danesh Mahadeva was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Gatehouse Bank in July 2017. He began his career at the bank as Vice President, Head of Finance in September 2013 and was responsible for managing the finance function. He has been an active member of key governing committees of the Bank and has worked closely with the board in developing the bank’s strategy and financial planning. Prior to joining the bank, Danesh’s previous roles have included working for Barclays Bank Plc across financial and product control and Ernst & Young specialising in audit in the banking and capital markets division. Danesh graduated with a BSc degree in Management Sciences from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England & Wales.

Mike Rainey is an English qualified banking and investment finance partner based in our Dubai office. With over 20 years of on-the-ground experience in the Middle East, Mike has represented clients on a host of cutting-edge, award-winning transactions, covering both conventional and Shariah-compliant financings. Mike acts for borrowers and lenders on an array of sophisticated equity, loan and bond financings across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, GCC and EMEA markets. He regularly creates structures to successfully fund the acquisition and delivery of critical assets – such as real estate and infrastructure projects – as well as guide cross-border inbound and outbound corporate and trade investments. Mike is also active in advising on advanced financial restructurings, including many ‘first-of-a-kind’ insolvency restructurings, such as the first Perpetual Sukuk used in connection with a restructuring under the 2018 Saudi Arabian bankruptcy law. Mike is ranked by The Legal 500 EMEA and IFLR1000 as a “notable practitioner”. He is part of the King & Spalding team that repeatedly receives prominent market accolades, with recent examples including the Saudi Arabia Awards 2025 Restructuring Deal of the Year (Arkad Engineering & Construction Company Limited SAR 2.86bn perpetual sukuk), the IFLR Middle East Awards 2023 Restructuring Team of the Year, IFN Awards Insolvency and Restructuring Firm of the Year 2022, the Real Estate Team of the Year Award at the Middle East Legal Awards 2022, Project Finance International’s 2020 Middle East & Africa Solar Deal of the Year, and the IFN Commodity Deal of the Year 2022. Mike remains active as a market thought leader in topics such as Islamic finance and insolvency. He

regularly writes articles and speaks at industry events on contemporary and emerging legal and commercial issues related to finance and restructurings.

Moad Giebaly has experience of advising on a range of corporate work including domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, commercial contracts and general corporate advice. Moad has a particular focus on the real estate sector which ranges from advising developers and local authorities to advising on inward investment (from the MENA and ASEAN regions) in the real estate and hotels and leisure sectors, including those involving the corporate structuring of Shariah compliant acquisitions of shares and assets and establishing Shariah compliant offshore funds.

Dr Mohamed Damak is a Senior Director of Financial Services at S&P Global Ratings, covering financial institutions in the Middle East and Africa. He is also the Global Head of Islamic finance at the rating agency, leading a global team of Islamic finance analysts.

Dr Mohamed had worked for S&P Global Ratings from 2006 to 2010, covering conventional and Islamic financial institutions in MENA. He then worked as a Principal Credit Risk Officer for the African Development Bank in Tunis before rejoining S&P Global Ratings.

Holding a PhD in Finance and a Master’s degree in Money, Banking and Finance from Universite Paris-Pantheon-Assas, Dr Mohamed also has a Master’s degree in Financial Institutions Management from Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Tunis.

Nitish Bhojnagarwala is an Associate Managing Director 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 Turkey. 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 function. He has also worked for KPMG in the UAE, where he covered financial institutions. Nitish holds an MBA from S P Jain Institute of Management & Research, with a major in Finance (Investment Banking).

Olga has worked in the asset management industry since 2001. She is based in London and joined HSBC in November 2018 as Head of EMEA ETFs Sales, expanding her role to global coverage at the end of 2019 and further to index investment in 2020.

Prior to joining HSBC, Olga worked for BlackRock for 12 years – 9 years in Passive Sales where she held responsibility for client coverage across Southern Europe and 3 years as an EMD senior product strategist. Before this, Olga worked as a sales and product manager for BNP Paribas Asset Management in Paris for 6 years. She has also worked as financial controller in Spain outside the asset management industry.

Olga received an MBA from the IE Business School in Madrid and holds a degree in business administration from the University Complutense in Madrid and Montpellier. She holds the Imperial Sustainability Leadership certificate from the Imperial College Business school.

Dr Samir Alamad is a practitioner and expert in the Islamic banking and finance industry and a well-established published author. He works in both industry and academia, as the Chief Advisor of Islamic Finance and Banking at Ihsan Islamic Finance Solutions (IIFS) and a Senior Lecturer and Director of International Finance and Banking at the School of Economics, Finance and Accounting at Coventry University in the UK.

Throughout his professional career spanning over 20 years, Dr Samir has held senior positions and been recognized as an advisor to various government departments, both in the UK and internationally, on matters related to Islamic finance, social and financial inclusion. He holds a PhD from Aston Business School in Financial Innovation and Engineering.

Since 2012, Dr Samir has been a trusted advisor to various UK government departments, including HM Treasury, the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, the Department for Education, the Foreign Office, and the Bank of England. He has played an instrumental role in structuring alternative finance schemes aimed at enhancing financial inclusion and advancing the infrastructure of alternative and Islamic finance within the UK.

Dr Alamad is an AAOIFI Certified Shariah Advisor and Auditor, and serves as a board member on the AAOIFI curriculum review committee. He has a significant publication portfolio, including papers in three-star academic journals, and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences. He has delivered numerous lectures, and been featured in many TV and radio shows.

Sefian Kasem is the global head of ETF and Indexing Investment specialist at HSBC Asset Management. He is based in London and has been in the industry since 2006. Prior to joining HSBC Asset Management, Sefian worked for HSBC Global Banking and Markets for over 13 years, where he held positions within Cross-Asset Trading and Global Credit Trading divisions. He holds a degree in economics and finance from the London School of Economics and a PhD in mathematical finance from Imperial College in London.

Thominah Talukdar has over 15 years of regulatory compliance experience within the financial services market. During her career, she has supported several UK and global firms across the insurance, banking and consumer credit sectors with regulatory change and other strategic transformation projects. More recently she has supported a Shariah Compliant product provider with its recent implementation of the Consumer Duty in the UK. Thominah’s journey into Islamic and ethical financial alternatives began at Al Rayan Bank (formerly the Islamic Bank of Britain), where she was inspired by the vision of making ethical financial solutions more accessible and mainstream within the UK. In 2011, she transitioned into consumer protection and financial regulation roles, starting at the Financial Ombudsman Service, then moving to EY, and eventually joining Avyse Partners. Throughout her consulting career, Thominah has supported firms in relation to regulatory change initiatives, from Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) compliance to the recent Consumer Duty. Her deep understanding of the UK regulator’s direction has enabled her to assist numerous firms with authorisation applications, applications for regulatory approval, and navigating direct regulatory scrutiny. Passionate about social and financial inclusion, Thominah has consistently advocated for a more transparent and equitable financial services system. She holds a BA Hons in International Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies and is an active volunteer within her local community.

Umer Suleman studied Economics at the Royal Holloway University of London, and is further qualified from Manchester Business School as well as Harvard University. Umer is a regular Khateeb in the city and his locality and also delivers lectures across different platforms. Umer started his career as an auditor within the big 4 then moving to a major global finance firm in the city. At both organisations, Umer led the Muslim Networks. Additionally Umer has been actively involved in Islamic finance for the last decade, working with some of the most notable UK scholars on Shariah structuring and process reviews. Umer currently is and Global Head of Risk, Compliance & Shariah for Wahed, he sits on the board of the UKIFC, is an advisor for the finance arm of the Islamic Council of Europe and is co-Founder of the National Waqf Fund. Umer has also been an advisor for a number of other Islamic Fintechs. Umer was recognised for his work in 2016 as ‘one to watch’ in the city of London by Brummel magazine for not only his work in Islamic finance but also his role as a member of the board for the Cube Network, an umbrella organisation for professional corporate Muslim Networks.

Bhavick Patel is UK Head of ETF and Indexing Business Development for HSBC and has extensive ETF and investment product experience.

Prior to HSBC Bhavick spent 4 years at Source/Invesco and was at Blackrock for five years with the iShares sales team covering asset managers and private banks. Bhavick began his career at Morgan Stanley where he spent two years managing collateral on equity and fixed income derivative portfolios. Bhavick holds a B.Sc in Economics from Royal Holloway, University of London and has completed the IMC.

Conor has 30 years’ experience in banking and finance working for a Top 4 accounting firm, global consultancy firm and AAA-rated international development bank. He holds executive and board positions for multiple companies in profit and not-for-profit sector and has worked and advised on trade and investment transactions, tech start-ups, mineral mining enterprises using his expertise in business strategy, financial & risk management, and corporate governance. His clients comprise of governments, private sector companies and the third sector in field of banking, mining, infrastructure development, commodity trade in Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.

With over 23 years of professional experience, Faisal Islam is a recognized leader in digital finance, product innovation, and financial inclusion. He currently serves as the Head of Islamic Digital Finance at Kifiya Financial Technologies, where he spearheaded the development and launch of HalalGebeya — the world’s first fully digital, Shariah-compliant Murabaha financing and embedded e-commerce ecosystem.

Faisal’s work focuses on closing the financing gap for MSMEs through a range of Shariah-compliant digital products, including Islamic consumer financing, Islamic BNPL, invoice financing, agricultural finance, and Islamic card solutions. He has also pioneered the design of AI-driven, Shariah-compliant alternative credit scoring models, aimed at expanding financial access to underserved segments. In addition, he has successfully established regulatory-aligned Islamic financing operations in emerging markets. His expertise spans the full spectrum of product development — from Shariah structuring and partner bank enablement to building embedded finance ecosystems — always ensuring alignment with Islamic ethical standards. His initiatives have been instrumental in advancing cashless economies and promoting financial inclusion through innovative loyalty programs, digital onboarding solutions, and incentive-based payment ecosystems. Beyond Islamic finance, Faisal brings a strong background in technology leadership, with extensive experience across banking, fintech, retail, and asset management sectors.

Lawrence Oliver is a Director and Deputy CEO of DDCAP and its subsidiaries, DD&Co Limited and DDGI Limited. Lawrence has worked in the Islamic finance market for more than twenty-five years. He joined DDCAP in April 1998. Previously, he was a member of the team responsible for the Islamic Finance and Investment activity at Kleinwort Benson Limited. Lawrence is responsible for the company’s Business Development and Trading Desk including the evolvement and placement of its fintech solutions and has extensive experience of arranging asset-based transactions, which conform to Sharia stipulation. He specialises in Sharia compliant structured finance and asset origination. His broad knowledge of the physical commodity sector has enabled him to evolve the traditional merchant trading capabilities of DD&Co Limited for the benefit of institutional clients operating within the Islamic financial sector.

Lawrence is a member of the advisory board of CDIT, an initiative launched in September 2018 by the Responsible Finance & Investment Foundation (RFI) with the aim of improving transparency and accountability in the responsible finance industry. In 2021, Lawrence was invited by AAOIFI to join the AAOIFI Governance and Ethics committee’s Commodity Murabaha working group.  Lawrence is a regular speaker at many annual Islamic conferences held in the GCC, Southeast Asia and Europe.

Dr. Marjan Muhammad is the Deputy President Research at ISRA Institute, INCEIF University. In her current capacity, she oversees different portfolios including research and innovation, research management, assessment and publication, research commercialization, and Islamic finance online database (I-FIKR) developed by ISRA. She was previously the Director of Research Affairs Department at ISRA from 2013-2017. She is currently a member of the Shariah Advisory Council of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) effective from 1 November 2019 and a member of the Shariah Advisory Council of Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) effective from 1 July 2023. Prior to that, she was a member of Shariah Committee at a few local Islamic banks. At the international level, she sits on the Advisory Committee of Experts of Lotus Bank Limited and Shariah Supervisory Board of Lotus Capital Limited, both are based in Nigeria. Marjan obtained her bachelor’s degree in Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Heritage (Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh) from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and graduated from her master’s and PhD degrees at the same university.

Moad Giebaly has experience of advising on a range of corporate work including domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, commercial contracts and general corporate advice. Moad has a particular focus on the real estate sector which ranges from advising developers and local authorities to advising on inward investment (from the MENA and ASEAN regions) in the real estate and hotels and leisure sectors, including those involving the corporate structuring of Shariah compliant acquisitions of shares and assets and establishing Shariah compliant offshore funds.

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.

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.

Saad is the founder and managing director of Mnaara Limited, a UK-based investment platform providing Shariah-compliant investors and financial institutions access to top-tier global private market funds.

He has over two decades of experience in investment management and financial advisory. Previously, Saad co-founded Nitaq Capital, a family office advisory firm based in Saudi Arabia. He also served as Chief Investment Officer at MASIC Investment Company, a multi-billion-dollar Shariah-compliant family office and as head of Investment Banking at Alinma Bank in Saudi Arabia. Saad holds an MBA from INSEAD and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Dr Samir Alamad is a practitioner and expert in the Islamic banking and finance industry and a well-established published author. He works in both industry and academia, as the Chief Advisor of Islamic Finance and Banking at Ihsan Islamic Finance Solutions (IIFS) and a Senior Lecturer and Director of International Finance and Banking at the School of Economics, Finance and Accounting at Coventry University in the UK.

Throughout his professional career spanning over 20 years, Dr Samir has held senior positions and been recognized as an advisor to various government departments, both in the UK and internationally, on matters related to Islamic finance, social and financial inclusion. He holds a PhD from Aston Business School in Financial Innovation and Engineering.

Since 2012, Dr Samir has been a trusted advisor to various UK government departments, including HM Treasury, the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, the Department for Education, the Foreign Office, and the Bank of England. He has played an instrumental role in structuring alternative finance schemes aimed at enhancing financial inclusion and advancing the infrastructure of alternative and Islamic finance within the UK.

Dr Alamad is an AAOIFI Certified Shariah Advisor and Auditor, and serves as a board member on the AAOIFI curriculum review committee. He has a significant publication portfolio, including papers in three-star academic journals, and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences. He has delivered numerous lectures, and been featured in many TV and radio shows.

Sefian Kasem is the global head of ETF and Indexing Investment specialist at HSBC Asset Management. He is based in London and has been in the industry since 2006. Prior to joining HSBC Asset Management, Sefian worked for HSBC Global Banking and Markets for over 13 years, where he held positions within Cross-Asset Trading and Global Credit Trading divisions. He holds a degree in economics and finance from the London School of Economics and a PhD in mathematical finance from Imperial College in London.

Dr Shaher Abbas is the founder and CEO of IFIN, the first-of-its-kind Islamic fintech that is geared to redefine the Islamic finance industry. He is also the co-founder of IFAAS, the leading international consultancy specializing in Islamic finance.

Dr Shaher has over 20 years of experience across the Islamic finance landscape, including banking, Shariah governance, product development, auditing and training with extensive knowledge in the fintech sphere.

Dr Shaher’s technical expertise and ability to innovate have been internationally acclaimed and endorsed as he received the ‘Ethical Finance Innovation Challenge Award’ twice — in 2013 for IFAAS and in 2021 for IFIN — the IsDB Private Sector Forum Competition 2023 award, the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition 2022 award and the Arab Financial Inclusion Innovation Prize 2018.

Dr Shaher holds a PhD in Islamic financial engineering from Durham University, UK and a Master’s degree in Islamic economics, banking and finance from Loughborough University, UK. He is also an AAOIFI-certified Shariah advisor and auditor.

Sulaiman is an investment banker with over twenty years of experience in Financial & Capital Markets, and Asset Management. Before joining Cur8, he headed Dukhan Bank’s Capital Markets, Sales & Structuring businesses. Sulaiman started his career working for HSBC’s Islamic Finance team and where he structured several first to market transactions. He has a bachelor’s degree in physics and an MA in Islamic Finance.

Thominah Talukdar has over 15 years of regulatory compliance experience within the financial services market. During her career, she has supported several UK and global firms across the insurance, banking and consumer credit sectors with regulatory change and other strategic transformation projects. More recently she has supported a Shariah Compliant product provider with its recent implementation of the Consumer Duty in the UK. Thominah’s journey into Islamic and ethical financial alternatives began at Al Rayan Bank (formerly the Islamic Bank of Britain), where she was inspired by the vision of making ethical financial solutions more accessible and mainstream within the UK. In 2011, she transitioned into consumer protection and financial regulation roles, starting at the Financial Ombudsman Service, then moving to EY, and eventually joining Avyse Partners. Throughout her consulting career, Thominah has supported firms in relation to regulatory change initiatives, from Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) compliance to the recent Consumer Duty. Her deep understanding of the UK regulator’s direction has enabled her to assist numerous firms with authorisation applications, applications for regulatory approval, and navigating direct regulatory scrutiny. Passionate about social and financial inclusion, Thominah has consistently advocated for a more transparent and equitable financial services system. She holds a BA Hons in International Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies and is an active volunteer within her local community.

Wasim is the co-founder and CEO of Spark, a fintech startup platform exclusively for Shariah compliant products and services. With over eight years of experience in consulting projects at Big 4 organizations, Wasim specialises in transformative strategies, converging data insights to drive organisational growth and operational excellence for public and private sector organisations. Some of Wasim’s recognitions include being former UK Young Engineer of the Year, Welsh Young Engineer of the Year and recipient of the Young Engineer for Britain Duke of York’s Award for Most Creative Use of Technology.