Madzlan Mohamad Hussain is a partner and the head of the Islamic Financial Services Practice Group for Zaid Ibrahim & Co. (a member of ZICOlaw), a regional law firm with a presence in Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. He is recognized as a leading Islamic finance lawyer in various publications including Legal 500, IFLR 1000, Chambers & Partners, Islamic Finance news’s legal supplements and Euromoney’s Expert Guides. He started his career with the firm in 1998 as a trainee associate. Madzlan’s engagements include advising government authorities on the Islamic finance prudential framework and advising financial institutions on the legal and regulatory compliances for their Islamic finance operations; standardization of Islamic finance documentation; structuring and designing Sharīah compliant financial products; handling Islamic corporate financing transactions; and issuance of Islamic securities/Sukuk. Between 2004 and 2010, Madzlan served the IFSB, an international standard-setting organization for the prudential regulations of the Islamic financial services industry, based in Kuala Lumpur. At the IFSB, he was particularly responsible in overseeing the development of the prudential framework for corporate governance practices for all segments of Islamic financial services and was instrumental in spearheading its initiatives in addressing legal issues in Islamic finance. He returned to ZICOlaw as a partner in February 2010. Madzlan holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degree from International Islamic University Malaysia and a Master of Science degree in Islamic economics, banking and finance from Loughborough University in the UK.
Pavanjit Kaur is currently Head of Hong Leong Islamic Bank Berhad’s Treasury Solutions under Islamic Global Markets. With a 16-year career in markets, Pavan’s expertise primarily covers providing hedging and investment solutions for government linked companies as well as local and foreign corporate clients. In her current role she has been instrumental in setting up the Islamic global markets sales desk to provide comprehensive solutions to clients across various underlying assets classes. Prior to joining her current role, Pavan gained experience in derivatives and structured products working for HSBC Bank Berhad and CIMB Investment Bank Berhad over a period of 6 years. Her earlier experience as Fixed Income Manager with ING Investment Berhad saw her involvement in managing fixed income portfolios for insurance and unit linked funds, in accordance with investment mandates. Pavan started her career with Rating Agency Malaysia Berhad as a credit analyst evaluating credit profiles and assigning ratings based on risk profile for both banks and local companies interested in raising debt via capital markets. Pavan holds a Bachelor degree in Law with Honours from University of London, and a MBA Degree from Griffith University Queensland Australia.
Suzaizi Mohd Morshid is currently the head of funding and liquidity management for the RHB Banking Group. He is responsible for the group’s funding across the region to ensure that all business entities in the group is efficiently funded and meeting all the statutory and liquidity compliance requirements. In addition, he is also the head of Treasury for RHB Bank’s Islamic subsidiary – RHB Islamic. Prior to joining the RHB Banking Group, he was the assistant director of Islamic money and capital markets at Kuwait Finance House Malaysia and was part of the pioneer team that was responsible for the initial infrastructure set up of the Treasury Department. Suzaizi has various local and international experience and vastly knowledgeable in Treasury products – both in conventional and Islamic. He is currently the chairperson of the Market Technical Development Committee (sub-committee of CMTC) at the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia where he is an active contributor to various projects in the development of Islamic finance in Malaysia such as, among others, the standardization of Murabahah agreements (both corporate and interbank). He was one of the contributors in the ISRA’s textbook titled ‘Islamic Financial System – Principles & Operations’ and he also sat as the committee member in the Association of Foreign Exchange Malaysia (2004/2006). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Flinders University, Australia and a Master of Business Administration (Islamic banking and finance) from International Islamic University Malaysia.
Syed Alwi is the Executive Vice President, Corporate Services Division at Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad (BMMB). The Corporate Services Division’s scope covers all business aspects of the bank including consumer banking, business banking, treasury and investment banking with the responsibility to design, structure, innovate, implement, monitor and supervise all products, services, transactions and business offerings of the bank, including managing Shariah advisory services. He also serves as a member of the Management Committee, Executive Risk Management Committee, Investment Committee, Management Audit Committee and Asset-Liability Committee (ALCO). He is the management representative in the Shariah Committee and has direct oversight on all Shariah governance matters. He also sits as a Board member of Muamalat Ventures Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of BMMB involved in private equity and investments. Prior to joining BMMB, Syed Alwi served as Managing Director and Head of Islamic Banking, Asia Pacific at BNP Paribas, Director of Islamic Origination at Standard Chartered Saadiq Malaysia Berhad and Vice President, Corporate Banking-Asia at The Islamic Bank of Asia Limited, Singapore. Syed Alwi has more than eighteen (18) years of working experience in the Islamic financial services industry, both as a consultant and a banker. He is an Accounting graduate and also holds a MBA-Islamic Finance (First Class) from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).
