Nasir Ali Khan, Risk Auditor, National Bank of Abu Dhabi
You have worked in Pakistan, Japan, Singapore and now in the UAE. What is the best about working in each of these countries?
Work experience at each of these locations is unique and has had ample impact on what I am today. In my view, work ethics are driven by deeper cultural underpinnings and pace of business and cannot be implemented through a decree. Quest for sophistication and aesthetics comes with means both for individuals and nations. Professionalism comes with institutional maturity and competition while at the same time accountability drives responsibility. Education plays a part, but in a sea of culture, it’s a struggle. I have seen these parameters at work at varying degrees in these locations. For me, experience in Pakistan provided me with solid foundations (both technical and managerial), while the fast-paced capital markets of Tokyo and Singapore helped in acquiring additional skills and honing them further. The UAE market is developing fast – the change is so ostentatious that it can almost be touched and felt. While the markets here have yet to reach the next level, I am amazed to see how many of the world’s best brains have already made this land their preferred home.
Despite having been convinced of the value proposition of IBF, why have you so far failed to join an Islamic bank?
I should say I never lost interest in IBF during all these years. I see my role in terms of understanding and supporting the pedagogical spine and less on its business ramifications (many would think the other way around and perhaps rightly so). Presence in one of the IBF hotspots now (i.e. UAE) hopefully will help me catch up.
Do you consider yourself lucky or whatever you have achieved so far is only a fraction of what you had planned?
As Hippocrates put it, “Ars longa, vita brevis” (i.e. ‘Art is long, life short’), I seem to have hardly touched tip of the iceberg that I had planned or dreamt of and the time appears to have fled in no time. But true, I am immensely lucky to have come thus far. For me the scale for measuring success should be continuation despite challenges and never giving up rather than becoming a Nobel Laureate one day, for example.
You have children. Has fatherhood changed how you think about your work?
For sure. Fatherhood in my view makes you more responsible and accountable to yourself. It also inculcates in you the science of being reasonable and art of being patient – handy tools often shrugged off in colleges but immensely useful in professional life.
What was your childhood ambition?
Different things at a different stage of childhood. Strange might it look now, initially I wanted to be an artist–more specifically a playback singer. Then towards the teenage stages, cricket turned out to be the passion–something nature did not build me for.
Freedom or fairness? What would you prefer?
Actually both!
Unfortunately, both seem to be unachievable in absolute term.
Believe it not, fairness is something not in the very nature of things around us. Partiality, injustice or favouritism can be addressed only up to a certain extent. They run in human DNA and perhaps cannot be eliminated. I value equality and try to stand trial of my own conscious and believe I have achieved fairness. However, what is fair to me may not be to you. Freedom as well is relative. It makes more sense if it could come with sensitivity to the freedom of others who dare to differ with us. No doubt, freedom emboldens you to challenge the status quo and recycle and reinvent means of prosperity and happiness for the ever-increasing number of mouths to feed.
On a scale of 0-10, what number do you assign to the contribution of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIU) in your career development (10 being maximum)?
I take IIUI contribution as a continuum. The IIU (especially the School of Economics that I know from the late 1980s) impact is everlasting.
Lately, I attended IUJ (Japan), NUS (Singapore), Princeton and UOW (N. America), IIU remains my first love.
Which city do you feel at home?
Having lived in Tokyo the longest in recent times, I like it very much. However, I am equally comfortable in Singapore and now I like Abu Dhabi as well. In fact, I miss Lahore. I am just afraid of its recent sprawl and resulting devious roadways where the city I once knew has almost disappeared.
In one word, describe yourself.
Cool!
Your greatest inspiration?
In fact many. Firstly, my mother whose tenacity and unwavering commitment to her children raises the bar for human dignity. Secondly, a number of professors including Late Dr Ziauddin Ahmad, Dr M Fahim Khan, Dr Munawar Iqbal, Dr Sayyid Tahir and Dr Faiz Mohammad. They left lasting impression on my mind to think about economics differently. Thirdly, Late Dr Sayed Riaz Ahmad, a Durham graduate, a veteran banker (actually once a senior colleague) and a prolific author on political economy (co-editor in our joint work on “Strategic Issues in Islamic Banking” (1995)). In later years I enjoyed the way Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman articulated his stance on the Japanese economy as much as I acknowledge the contribution of Dr Phelim Boyle in introducing Monte Carlo simulations in Quantitative Finance.
