Q: Please tell us about your background in banking and finance and how you became involved in Islamic finance.
Following my appointment as audit partner with the Price Waterhouse practice in Africa from 1984 until 1988, I became involved with banking in 1989 when I joined Citibank in London as Vice President of, the Financial Institutions Group. While at Citibank, I was initially involved with new business and product development for the Fund manager customer segment in the Financial Institutions Group EMEA. In 1996, I joined the sales team of Citibank’s Alternative Investment Strategies (AIS) group, responsible for asset gathering of multi-manager hedge funds, credit debt obligations (CDOs) real estate and private equity investments and also served as a member of Citi’s Hedge Funds “Policy and Strategy Committee” responsible for the evaluation and selection of external hedge fund managers. In 1997, I was appointed Chairman of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) and served 2 terms until 2000. I am currently the AIMA representative for the Middle East region based in Dubai.
Following my international banking experience with Citibank, I served as Senior Vice President within the International Mutual Funds Group of Scudder, Stevens and Clark Ltd in London between June 1998 and June 1999. I primarily focused on structured products and the creation of new mutual funds for the firm’s international distribution partners.
I joined the FWU group in July 1999 and soon became involved in the group’s strategic business diversification initiative. During my business development trips and meetings with major bank client relationships in the Middle East, I first encountered Islamic finance and became interested in the field. I was appointed Deputy CEO of FWU Global Takaful Solutions in May 2012 and moved to the UAE.
Q: What inspires you?
Innovation, excellence, deal-making and enhancing industry best practice standards.
Q: What is your education background?
I attended Karachi Grammar School and then went to London in 1970 and qualified as a UK Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA).
Q: Who do you regard as your mentors?
- Tan Sri Dato’ Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor, Bank Negara Malaysia
- Dr Muliaman D. Hadad, the Chairman of Board of Commissioners of Financial Service Authority
- Mr Iqbal Khan, CEO, Fajr Capital
Q: Islamic finance: a profession or passion?
Passion – Islamic finance is aligned with principles of mutuality, profit and loss sharing, sense of value, fairness and the well-being of customers beyond solely financial aspects. Transparency of terms and conditions, as well as socially responsible investing, are attractive and the customer-friendly attitude forms an integral part of the value proposition of Islamic finance.
I have in my spare time edited several Euromoney Islamic Finance publications on Retail Banking, Takaful, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Sukuk, and Investment Banking; co-edited other investment publications on MENA and GCC; contributed to various industry publications; and been involved in selected industry events.
Q: Where are you the happiest?
I enjoy working at FWU and being involved with emerging markets. These growth markets offer interesting business development opportunities and challenges particularly in MENA, Turkey and South-East Asia. This has recently prompted the FWU group to secure an exciting new cooperation agreement with Sinarmas MSIG Life to facilitate the distribution of family takaful investment-linked plans in Indonesia through business relationships with major banks.
In 2012, FWU group pioneered the first EU sukuk issuance by a German corporate, the largest within Europe. The US$ 55 million sukuk ijarah is another innovation by the FWU Group –it was the first Sukuk where the underlying asset was intellectual property (proprietary software, developed in-house, for use by FWU Group distribution partners).
In October 2013, FWU group issued another sukuk, the US$ 100 million salam III sukuk. The first tranche (US$ 20 million) in October 2013 was oversubscribed. The sukuk will be issued in amortizing tranches, with distributions made quarterly to investors on a fully amortizing basis.
Q: How physically fit are you and how important do you think it is for professional life?
Physical fitness is very important for someone with an active professional life. This is an area that I am continually working on, drawing inspiration and encouragement from my daughter in Dubai.
Q: What has been the greatest achievement of your life so far?
I would say contributing to the successful expansion of FWU’s international footprint within rapidly developing emerging and frontier markets. Over the past decade, FWU has entered, and thrived in several markets, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Malaysia. More recently, FWU has extended its presence into Indonesia.
Q: After the recent push from the government of UAE towards a Halal economy, what do you think the future holds for Islamic banking and finance in the country?
Islamic banking and finance has a very bright future in the UAE stemming from a series of great initiatives by the government of the UAE. All industries stand to benefit from these initiatives: from tourism and hospitality, through to construction. The ripple on effect of these government-led programmes that bring people to UAE would also boost the prospects of Islamic banking and finance.
Importantly, the UAE is uniquely positioned at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, possessing a first-class infrastructure and connectivity to promote and drive the Halal economy forward. This is expected to provide the catalyst that elevates the future prospects of Islamic banking and finance within the UAE.
Q: In your opinion how will the Expo 2020 benefit Islamic banking and finance in the UAE?
During the years leading up to Expo 2020, companies and organisations will look to deliver new products and services as well as increase their current capacity. Many of these companies and organisations will look to access financing through the Islamic economy. As a result, the number of sukuk issues is expected to increase.
On the retail side, consumer banking and wealth management are well positioned to benefit from the increased activity in the economy as the number of visitors and residents of the UAE swell in preparation for a showcase of the magnitude of Expo 2020.
Q: The focus of FWU is on pension funds and insurance solutions. Can you elaborate on this for the benefit of our readership?
FWU Global Takaful Solutions specialises in working with its licensed takaful partners to design white-label family takaful unit-linked investments with customised innovative customer solutions, which combine life protection and savings for important life events, such as marriage and education. As FWU group is motivated to develop solutions that serve customer needs. Following demand from bank distribution partners and certain corporate clients interested in a defined contribution pension plan to retain and attract talent, FWU group is developing a fully Shari’a-compliant long-term savings plan designed to meet the retirement needs of the company’s employees.
Apart from product innovation, FWU group is also valued for its new systems development attuned to emerging market needs, speed of deal execution and significant depth and experience of its executive management team.
To provide a seamless bancassurance solution, and in order to facilitate the customer sales process and policy administration, FWU group has created a proprietary web portal that also provides its bancatakaful partners with an automated underwriting capability. The portal provides bancatakaful partners with an internet-based point-of-sale and administration system designed to enhance product management, sales fulfilment and sales management. As a further enhancement, FWU now offers the web portal as a tablet solution. It also levels the playing field for consumer investment products by making the sale of a family takaful investment-linked plan as convenient as the sale of an Islamic mutual fund or an Islamic credit card.
