Ahmad Shahriman Mohd Shariff was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad on 1 October 2019. In this role he heads the Group Islamic Banking business of CIMB Group including Islamic wholesale banking, Islamic consumer banking, Islamic commercial banking and Islamic asset management and investment across key markets such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Shahriman is also Board Member of CIMB Islamic Bank, Secretary of the Association of Islamic Banking and Financial Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM), Member, Standing Committee on Islamic Financial Reporting, Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB), and Honorary Senior Fellow, Centre for Islamic Economics, International Islamic University Malaysia.
 
Shahriman has over two decades of experience in the corporate sector, of which 16 years were in Islamic Banking and Finance-related leadership roles at HSBC Amanah Malaysia Berhad as Director, Wholesale Banking and Citigroup where he served as Head of Islamic Banking, Citibank Berhad amongst others.

With over 20 years of experience in the fund management industry with more than 10 years at top ranking investment banking firms (JPMorgan, Citi and Credit Suisse), Cedric Rimaud has been managing fixed income portfolios and analyzing corporate bonds during the most part of his career, most recently as the head of emerging markets corporate credit research at an independent credit research company. He has been managing teams of analysts and acting as a principal of small investment teams in various capacities.

Cedric earned a Master’s degree in finance from the London Business School and he is currently enrolled in the joint Executive MBA program of INSEAD in Singapore and Tsinghua University in Beijing. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder and a member of the CFA Society in Singapore.

Since relocating for the second time to Asia six years ago (Bangkok and Singapore), Cedric has been developing investable projects in the climate finance space in Southeast Asia. He has been a consultant for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (including Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines) on green finance.

Chung Chee Leong is currently CEO and an executive director of Cagamas, Malaysia’s national mortgage corporation, a post he has held since the 1st April 2012. He spearheaded Cagamas’s entrance into the international bond market. Starting with the ‘A3’ sovereign equivalent international rating by Moody’s Investors Services, Chung was instrumental in establishing the company’s US$5 billion multicurrency euro medium-term note program under which Cagamas’s inaugural and Southeast Asia largest offshore renminbi bond was issued. Under his leadership, Cagamas also concluded the country’s largest Sukuk issuance in 2013.

Chung served as the first chairman of the Asian Secondary Mortgage Market Association in 2015. He is currently a member of the Bond Market Subcommittee established by Bank Negara Malaysia focusing on development of the bond market in Malaysia.

Prior to his appointment, Chung has 29 years of experience in central banking, focusing mainly on financial system stability and the financial sector. He has served as the director of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)’s Banking Supervision Department as well as the Risk Management Department. During his service with BNM, Chung also carried out assignments for the IMF and the IFSB.

Elias Moubarak is a partner in the Kuala Lumpur office of Trowers & Hamlins. Elias represents the full spectrum of stakeholders on a range of Shariah compliant banking and finance transactions including project financings and real estate financings as well as Sukuk issuances. Elias has also contributed to the development of laws, such as Sukuk regulations in Oman, Jordan and Pakistan, facilitating the development of Shariah compliant financing in a number of jurisdictions. Elias is cited in Legal 500 2017 as a banking and finance lawyer who is a “notable practitioner” who has “excellent technical knowledge and a willingness to go the extra mile”.

Dr. Hamim Syahrum Ahmad Mokhtar is currently Deputy Director in the Financial Inclusion Department, Bank Negara Malaysia. His role includes leading and guiding strategic development policies of social finance, microfinance and green finance. Previously, he was Deputy Director in the Financial Surveillance Department and Islamic Banking & Takaful Department. Besides that, Dr Hamim had years of experiences as an examiner of both foreign and domestic banks when he started off his career with the bank in Banking Supervision Department.

Dr. Hamim was also involved in a number of working groups and taskforces established by the Islamic Financial Services Board including Capital Adequacy Standards (Sukuk Securitisation and Real Estate), Governance of Islamic Collective Investment Scheme, Guides Islamic Deposit Insurance and Guidance Notes in the determination of Alpha in Capital Adequacy Ratio.

Dr Hamim holds a degree in Accounting (Honors), Master’s degree in Business Administration, Ph.D. in Islamic Banking & Finance. He has published and presented number of papers at both domestic and international conferences. This includes the paper on Efficiency & competition of Islamic banking in Malaysia which was accorded “Highly Commended Award by the award winning international journal, Emerald Literati Network. He is also a Chartered Accountant of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) and Chartered Banker (CB). He received Central Bank’s Excellent Individual Performance Awards in 2009.

Ismitz Matthew De Alwis is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Kenanga Investors Berhad. He also serves as a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director on the Board of Directors of Kenanga Islamic Investors Berhad, i-VCAP Management Sdn Bhd, as well as all subsidiaries of KIB. With more than thirty years’ worth of experience, he has a Capital Markets Services Representative’s Licence from the Securities Commission Malaysia. He is a Certified Financial Planner and Islamic Financial Planner. De Alwis is the Chairperson of the Malaysian Association of Asset Managers, and is currently on the board of the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia. He is a member of the SC’s Assessment Review Committee – Fund Management as well as a member of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Index Advisory Committee. He is also a member of the Joint Committee on Climate Change and the Industry Competency Framework Advisory Panel for the Malaysian Capital Market project undertaken by the Securities Industry Development Corporation. Additionally, he is a member of the Sustainable Investment Platform Steering Committee – Malaysia Sustainable Investment Initiative and a Council Member of the Institutional Investors Council Malaysia. De Alwis is also Investment Adviser for the Olympic Council of Malaysia’s Trust Management Committee.

Julian, an advocate & solicitor of the High Court of Malaysia, was a founder partner of a leading Kuala Lumpur law firm. In his 25 years of legal practice, Julian advised on all aspects of corporate transactional work including international and domestic M&As, take overs and capital market transactions. Julian also advised his clients on their on-going reporting obligations, corporate governance requirements and other compliance matters.

As the Chief Regulatory Officer of the Exchange, Julian and his team at Bursa Regulation undertakes regulatory functions of Bursa Malaysia Berhad and its licensed subsidiaries ranging from regulatory strategies and policies, listing, market and corporate surveillance, governance and sustainability, participant supervision, investigation and enforcement.

Marcel Omar Papp is the Head of Retakaful at Swiss Re Malaysia Branch since 2009.

He is a member of the Management Committee of the Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA) since 2017, a representative of the MTA in the Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3) and a representative of the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) in the Malaysian Sustainable Finance Initiative (MSFI).

Marcel Omar came to Swiss Re Kuala Lumpur branch in February 2009 with the responsibility to set up and head the Retakaful operations, which has since become the global centre for Swiss Re’s Family and General Retakaful 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 South East Asia and has won several ‘Best Retakaful operation’ awards.

Prior to moving to Malaysia, Marcel Omar was based in Hong Kong and Singapore for ten years in various underwriting roles, including head of the Casualty Treaty Desk and Product Manager Casualty for Asia.

He started his career in insurance more than 28 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 (Business Administration) from the University of Zurich (Switzerland) and is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute (A.C.I.I.) of London.

Dr Mohamad Zabidi Ahmad was previously the senior managing director of group wholesale banking at CIMB Group. He has been in the banking industry for 38 years including in wholesale banking and group treasury. He also has overseas experience of five years in London. He was responsible for developing the Islamic franchise for CIMB Group regionally including in the UK, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand since 2006. In 2019, his leadership led to CIMB being awarded as the ‘Best Islamic Bank for Treasury Management’ among Islamic banks at IFN Awards 2019. He was previously managing about RM100 billion (US$22.53 billion) of Islamic assets for group Islamic banking.

Dr Mohamad holds various positions in the CIMB Group including as the chairman of the Investment Account Oversight Committee and a committee member in the Group Islamic Management Committee, Treasury & Market Committee and Group Islamic Wholesale Banking Committee. He is also well-versed in the wholesale banking business incIuding credit analytics on corporate and credit markets as he was a member of the Internal Credit Pricing Committee and Corporate Banking, Treasury & Markets Management Committee of CIMB Group. Currently, he is also the chairman of the Board Audit & Risk Committee of BIMB Investment Management since October 2021.

Dr Mohamad holds a doctorate in business administration from the Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate School of Business (OYAGSB), UUM and a Bachelor in Accountancy degree (Honors) from UITM. He is a chartered accountant by profession and a practicing member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), a certified senior financial market practitioner by ACI-Financial Market of Malaysia and the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers, holds the Associate Qualification of Islamic Finance from Islamic Banking & Finance Institute Malaysia, a senior associate from the Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance and a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia since June 2022 . Recently, he had completed the Oxford Executive Leadership Programme by Sa’id Business School at Oxford University and the ACI Online FX Global Code by ACI (The Financial Markets Association) in 2020. He had served as a committee member in the Islamic Finance Committee of MIA since 2017.

Recently, Dr Mohamad had been appointed as an Industry Distinguished Research Fellow for the Institute of Sustainable, Growth and Urban Development of UUM and a committee member of the Investment Committee of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia. He was awarded the ‘Best Overall Outstanding Students Award’ by OYAGSB and was named as a ‘Successful Person in Malaysia’ by BritishPedia UK in 2020. He is also the adjunct professor and member of the Board of Studies for the Perdana University School of Business. Recently, he was chosen as a 28COE (Credential of Entrepreneurs) member in the 28COE book written by Bilal Ahmad Bhat and given the 2022 World Digital Economy Corporate CEO Lifetime Achievement Award by the KSI Strategic Institute of Asia Pacific on the 28^th June 2022.

Mohammed Paracha is a banking and finance lawyer based in Dubai. He is the head of the Middle East, as well as the head of Norton Rose Fulbright’s Islamic finance practice for the Middle East and Africa.

Mohammed has been active in the Middle East for nearly 20 years, having worked in Norton Rose Fulbright’s London and Bahrain offices before moving to Dubai in 2011. He became the head of Norton Rose Fulbright’s Middle East practice in January 2021.

Mohammed’s practice focuses on all types of Islamic finance covering a wide range of asset types, investment classes and industrial sectors. With a background in asset and project finance, Mohammed advises on Shariah compliant asset finance, trade finance, real estate finance and project financings. He also advises on the structuring of Islamically acceptable investment funds and has advised on the establishment of new Islamic financial institutions in various countries. Mohammed has strong relationships with many of the internationally renowned Shariah scholars and is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars on Islamic finance topics.

Mohammed is recommended as a leader in his field by Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, Acritas and IFLR.

Ekmal Zazi is Regional Head – Wholesale Banking at CIMB Islamic and is responsible for developing and growing Islamic wholesale banking business of CIMB Group. Prior to joining CIMB Islamic in April 2020, he was with CIMB Bank, carrying out capital and balance sheet management roles of the group. He was a key person in the liquidity and interest rate management of the group, ensuring sustainable assets growth through lean and optimised balance sheet. He started his career as a management trainee with CIMB Investment Bank back in July 2007.

He graduated with an MSc in Risk Management and Financial Engineering from Imperial College London in 2012. He also holds BSc in Actuarial Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Chartered Professional in Islamic Finance (CPIF) charter.

Mushtaq Kapasi is ICMA’s Chief Representative for the Asia-Pacific region. He has been based in Hong Kong since 2002, engaged in senior strategy, capital market and legal roles covering the region at international banks active in Asia. He has worked as a lawyer in debt capital markets and derivatives, a structurer in equities and fixed income, a manager of complex trades with regulatory and accounting considerations, and an adviser to top executives on emerging market strategy. He has also served as a consultant on financial structures of renewable energy projects in frontier markets. He is a member of the New York State Bar, and studied mathematics at the University of Texas and law at Yale University.

Nor Masliza is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer overseeing the origination, execution and syndication of fixed-income, equity-linked and equity transactions. She is primarily responsible for the capital markets franchise of CIMB Group which covers conventional, Islamic and ESG-themed transactions across G3 and regional local currencies for bonds (CP, MTN), convertible and exchangeable bonds, project finance bonds, securitization and structured finance (includes asset-backed securities, corporate hybrids and regulatory capital), as well as underwriting and placements of primary and secondary equity market transactions.

She has more than 23 years’ experience in the ASEAN debt markets, equity-linked products, derivatives and Islamic finance. She is the chairperson of the Debt Capital Markets Committee of the Malaysian Investment Banking Association (MIBA). She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree (Distinction) majoring in Finance and Accounting with a minor in Economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and is a CFA charterholder.

Vinie has extensive experience in financial management, strategy & commercial planning, mergers & acquisitions, corporate finance, treasury and investor relations. She has executed investment and fundraising transactions with combined value of more than RM25bil, which have won numerous prestigious awards from Euromoney, Triple A Asset Award, International Financing Review, RAM Rating and Alpha Southeast Asia for best transactions, pioneer awards and innovation in finance. Her effective engagement with the investment community had also led to her being twice-voted as the best investor relations professional in Asia in 2013 and 2015. She had twice turned around two loss-making companies in different industries within the first year under her leadership as CFO. In her current role, she drives the delivery of Cenergi’s performance through accelerating its business innovation and green growth strategies towards the benefit of the planet. Vinie is currently an Independent Non-Executive Director with Damansara Holdings Berhad.

Zainal Izlan Zainal Abidin was appointed Deputy Chief Executive of the SC on 5 April 2018. He joined the SC in January 2011 as Executive Director, Islamic Capital Market and was appointed Managing Director, Development and Islamic Markets in November 2016.

He is also Chairman of Capital Markets Malaysia, an entity established by the SC to promote the Malaysian capital market, and a Board member of the Securities Industry Development Corporation. Zainal Izlan has over 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry. He began his career with Citibank before moving to MIDF Amanah Asset Management. Just before joining the SC, Zainal Izlan was the CEO of i-VCAP Management.

Zainal Izlan holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics (dual concentration in Accounting and Finance) from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.