ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Sultan Choudhury

CONSULTANT

Tasneem Mayet

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Graham Burnside

A consultant with Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP, formerly heading the Banking & Finance Department of Tods Murray LLP, Graham leads the UKIFC’s activities in the ethical finance arena. He has pioneered the application of Shariah principles within Scots law, facilitating the availability of Islamic home financing to the Scottish community. In addition to the legal structuring of Shariah-compliant retail products and commercial funding Graham was also involved in consultations with HM Treasury, leading to the introduction of stamp duty reliefs for Scottish Islamic mortgages.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Modupe Ladipo

Modupe has over 25 years’ diverse experience in financial services and economic development. She is the Managing Partner of Prosperar Consulting and former Chair of the Board and CEO of EFInA. Modupe is one of the pioneers of financial inclusion in Nigeria. She has invaluable experience in digital financial services, MSME finance, agent banking and non-interest (Islamic) finance. Prior to joining EFInA, Modupe worked in the UK and her experience includes, developing & implementing corporate strategies, product development, mergers & acquisitions, managing large scale projects, retail and institutional brokerage. She worked for Tata Consultancy Services, Merrill Lynch, ABN AMRO, the London Stock Exchange and Credit Suisse Financial Products. Modupe has extensive experience of providing thought leadership in complex and challenging environments. Modupe holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Manchester Business School and B.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from University College, London.

CONSULTANT

Muhammad Emamally

Muhammad is a qualified accountant and a fellow member of the ACCA. He has 10 years+ relevant experience (Practice, Commerce & Industry – 4 years) and Financial Services (6 years). He has worked for several multinational banks in the City of London and Canary Wharf and his experience encompasses Equity Derivatives & Fixed income vanilla products (Middle Office Trading) where he also managed a team of Analysts.

Muhammad left his position as AVP at one of US’s largest banks at their European Headquarters in London, to embark on a structured path to study various Islamic sciences including Arabic language, Quran memorisation and Shariah programme. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sharia from the Islamic University of Madina and has also studied for the CSAA programme from AAOIFI.

Having studied under a number of notable teachers and scholars of the Islamic sciences (10 years) and worked at semi to senior levels for several firms and Investment Banks (since 2002), Muhammad holds an in depth understanding of the market and has a unique skillset of both contemporary Finance practices and Fiqh of Mu’aamalaat.

CONSULTANT

Nadeem Haq

Nadeem, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales and the Institute of Internal Auditors, has worked in London and Dubai and has experience in audit, compliance and consultancy in a broad range of industries including financial services. Having worked with leading global firms such as PWC and the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nadeem has developed expertise in the areas of banking, financial services, corporate governance and Shari’ah audit.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Richard de Belder

During his time at the international law firm Dentons, Richard headed up the global co-ordination of the firm’s Islamic Finance practice. Since the late 1990s Richard has worked closely with many leading Shariah scholars to create ground breaking structures that not only comply with the requirements of the Shariah, but also secular laws and regulatory requirements. He previously chaired the Legal Group of the UK Islamic Finance Secretariat and in 2013 was one of seven non-ministerial members of the UK Government’s Islamic Finance Task Force. Richard is particularly interested in investigating how Islamic finance can be extended into areas that will advance social good.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER & DIRECTOR

Omar Shaikh

Omar is a Chartered Accountant by profession and specialises in Islamic finance and private equity. He leads the UKIFC’s government policy advisory activities. Omar has been involved in the UK Government’s strategy for making the City a leading hub for Islamic finance. Omar’s background includes working with Ernst & Young where he was recognised as the UK firms SME for Islamic finance and successfully led the build out of the Islamic finance offering within the UK office.

SENIOR ADVISOR

S. Fahim Ahmad

Educated mostly in the UK, up to MBA level, S. Fahim Ahmad started his career with Citibank in Karachi as a lending officer, then moved to Citibank Bahrain where he covered most of the Middle East markets including Saudi Arabia at senior level. After returning to Karachi he worked with American Express Bank. His banking expertise covers Corporate & Investment Banking, Credit Risk, Treasury, Corporate Communications and Financial Institutions.

For career diversification, Fahim also worked as a Corporate Treasurer where he was involved in Pakistan’s first GDR offering, the Istisna deal, as well as complex project finance and local equity issue, acquiring both debt and equity skills and enabling him to branch out as an Independent Consultant to advise banks, Governments, sovereign funds , power utility at high levels besides serving on the boards of Financial Institutions. He is a Certified Islamic Banking and Finance Professional, with understanding of both conventional and Islamic banking.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Umer Suleman

Umer Suleman is a Regulatory and Operational Risk Consultant for Financial Institutions who also serves as the Finance Editor for a UK Islamic news portal.

Umer completed his undergraduate in Economics and Management from the Royal Holloway College, University of London (2000). He started his career in the public sector, administering the budget for Education in a local authority. In 2007 he joined the global advisory firm Ernst & Young as part of a specialist PFI team that reviewed and advised on public infrastructure projects that are privately funded. In 2008 he began studying various Islamic subjects informally and formally with a UK-based Scholarship. In 2011, Umer joined a major bank in the City of London as an Operational Risk Manager, and he has had various roles within the organisation since, including Head of Business Risk for MENA (Middle East and North Africa). He also completed a post-graduate diploma in Governance, Risk and Compliance from Manchester Business School (2015).

Umer manages the Shariah Scholars CPD programme for the UKIFC. He has performed a key review and advised the world’s largest Islamic charity on their Waqf programme. He was also part of a small advisory group to the UK government on offering Shari’ah-compliant student loans. Umer has been featured in a number of different media, speaking on the topic of Islamic Finance, including the BBC, National Radio of Spain, Bloomberg and The Times newspaper, among others.

EXECUTIVE MANAGER

Chris Tait

Chris Tait is an experienced marketing and business development professional. He manages the brand, digital and communication activities for the UKIFC. With a background in professional and financial services Chris has played a key role in developing and rolling out the UKIFC’s ethical finance and Government Advisory initiatives, including managing the strategic partnership with CMS. Chris has helped plan and deliver UKIFC international events and conferences in London and Scotland and has connections within the UK press / media outlets as well as the global Islamic finance publications.

Chris is Chartered Marketer and has a Masters in Business Information Technology Systems from Strathclyde Graduate Business School.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Ajmal Bhatty

Ajmal Bhatty is a thought leader and pioneer in takaful, with over 35 years of experience in the financial services industry. Ajmal has been instrumental in developing new institutions and managing companies in challenging environments. Ajmal has delivered on a global stage including advising and serving on Boards of companies, working with various standard setting bodies and regulators. He has work experience in UK, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Singapore and Malaysia, with start-up ventures, bancassurance and offshore global processing centers in Malta, Bermuda and India.