Islamic Sustainable Finance Masterclass Series

Group CEO, MBSB

Rafe Haneef

Senior Advisor, GEFI

Amanda Young

Amanda was the Chief Sustainability Officer for the Investments business at abrdn, where she led the sustainable investment strategy for the firm and the Investment Sustainability Group.  She has over two decades of experience in responsible investment. Previously, Amanda held positions at Newton Investment Management, CCLA Investment Management and Rabobank International. Amanda graduated from Lancaster University with a BSc in Psychology and has completed the University of Edinburgh Business School’s Executive Women’s Leadership Programme. She is the Chair of the Sustainability and Responsible Investment Committee of the Investment Association, a board director for Social Investment Scotland’s SIS Ventures fund and represented abrdn on the Scottish Taskforce for Green and Sustainable Financial Services. Previous appointments include Chair, workstream for the UK Government’s Taskforce on social impact investment, co-Chair of the Scottish Purposeful Business Commission, Board Director of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) and Chair of the FTSE Russell ESG Advisory Committee.  Amanda has appeared on the Financial News top 100 most influential women in European Finance for 6 years.  She was the inaugural winner of Women in Investment Awards Sustainable & ESG Investment Woman of the Year in 2021 and was on Financial News’ inaugural Fifty Most Influential in Sustainable Finance list in 2022.

Managing Director, GEFI

Omar Shaikh

Omar is the Managing Director of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) and Board Member of the UK Islamic Finance Council (UKIFC)

A Chartered Accountant by profession, he specialises in ethical/responsible finance, Islamic finance, and private equity. He has extensive experience in financial services and has advised multiple governments and regulators on ecosystem building as a leading advocate for sustainable and Islamic finance. His background includes working with EY London, where he qualified as a CA and was the former Head of Islamic finance.

Through his GEFI work, Omar has established a number of initiatives, including the Path to COP, the SDG Financial Products platform with UNDP, which promotes innovative financing structures for the SDGs, the Global Islamic Finance and UN SDGs Taskforce launched with the UK Government and IsDB, and the award-winning interfaith Edinburgh Finance Declaration—the world’s first shared values approach to finance between Islamic finance and the Church. He also served on the Board of the University of Oxford Faith-Aligned Impact Finance Project

Omar received a BAcc and a PhD from the University of Glasgow along with an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University conferred for his work in developing ethical finance. Beyond finance, he is actively involved with Colourful Heritage which works with Glasgow Museums to preserve and celebrate South Asian heritage in Scotland, The King’s Trust Scotland and Olivewood Primary School.

, Islamic Finance Campaigner & Advisor to the Ummah for Earth Alliance with Greenpeace MENA

Tariq Al-Olaimy

Tariq Al-Olaimy is an Islamic finance campaigner and advisor to the Ummah for Earth Alliance with Greenpeace MENA. He holds advisory and board roles with entities such as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UNEP & FAO), the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions’ Race to Resilience Campaign, the Global Shapers Community, 1t.org, and the EAT Forum—the leading science-based global platform for transforming food systems. Often working at the intersection of faith, finance, and sustainability, Tariq has co-founded several social enterprises, serves on faith based boards, and is an advisory board member of the World Economic Forum’s Faith in Action Report.

PRB Membership Team Leader

Flora Petrucci

Head of Research, Islamic Finance, LSEG Data and Analytics

Tayyab Ahmed

Tayyab is Head of Research, Islamic Finance at LSEG Data & Analytics, leading the Islamic finance research team and overseeing the production of thought leadership reports on Islamic finance and MENA related topics.

Previously, Tayyab was a Senior Research Analyst at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), where he helped produce various thought leadership and foresight reports as part of the Islamic finance research team, such as the annual OIC Megatrends, IFDI & Sukuk Reports.

Earlier in his career, he was an Associate Director of Strategy in Malaysia for Ernst & Young (EY) where he focused on government strategy, team and stakeholder management, and mentoring associates.

Tayyab received his MPhil from Cambridge, LLM from London School of Economics, and Islamic Finance Qualification (IFQ) from the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments.

Research Fellow, INCEIF University

Dr. Eman Tabet

Dr. Eman Tabet currently serves as a Research Fellow at INCEIF University, a She specializes in sustainable Islamic finance, including a project to estimating and assessing climate-related financial risks faced by Islamic banks across OIC countries —a project she worked on in collaboration with the Responsible Finance and Investment (RFI) Foundation C.I.C.

Dr. Tabet holds a PhD in Islamic Finance from INCEIF University, Malaysia, where she received the Chancellor’s Scholarship. Prior to which she earned a Master’s of Science in Islamic Finance from Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU) in Qatar. Beyond her academic pursuits, Dr. Tabet is an advocate for climate change awareness and preservation of Global Commons as an Arctic Angel. She is actively involved in trainings programs and consultancy projects related to sustainable and social development in the GCC, Malaysia and East Africa.

Dr. Tabet’s research interests include Islamic finance, sustainability, climate financial risks, and SME’s

Head of Shariah Department (Global), Standard Chartered Bank

Shaikh Muhammad Abdul Mubeen

Shaikh Muhammad Abdul Mubeen has extensive experience in the field of Islamic finance, insurance, and teaching. He is a member of the Shariah Committee, Standard Chartered Berhad Malaysia and Pakistan, and also heads the Shariah Department for Group Islamic Banking function of Standard Chartered Bank.

He has done his Takhassus fil Ifta from Jamiah Darul-uloom, Karachi and Shahadat ul Alamiyyah from Jamiat ul Uloom-il-Islamiyyah, Allamah Binnori Town, Karachi. He further pursued his modern study and completed his Master in Commercial Law from The University of Melbourne, Australia and LLB (Hons) Shariah & Law from International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Global Head of Risk, Wahed

Umer Suleman

Sharia Board Member

Dr. Moosa Tariq Khoory

Dr. Moosa Tariq Khoory is a member of various Sharia Boards and Committees in the UAE in the sectors of Islamic banking, Islamic insurance (Takaful) and Islamic Financial Market. He is the ex-Group Head of Internal Sharia Audit at Dubai Islamic Bank, and is also the Founder Chairman of the “Sharia Professionals Association”. He has also been a member of AAOIFI’s Governance and Ethics Board, and AAOIFI’s Education Board.

He is a member of the Consultancy Board at University of Sharjah’s College of Sharia and Islamic Studies and Al-Qassimia University’s College of Sharia and Islamic Studies.  Dr.Moosa holds PhD in Islamic Finance from Durham University, a dual Master’s Degree in Islamic Law & Legal Theory from the University of Sharjah, and Master’s in International Business Law from Paris 2 University.

Senior Manager – Climate & Credit Risk, HSBC ME

Jhankrut Shah

Jhankrut is the Climate Risk Specialist at HSBC MENAT, where he supports the integration of climate risk considerations into credit-risk decision making. He tracks climate risk progression at a portfolio level, identifying high-risk areas where strategic credit action may be needed.

Jhankrut has a decade of global experience in sustainable finance and climate risk across the Middle East, Americas, and Southeast Asia. He has consulted for multiple banks in the GCC region on drafting their sustainability strategies and crafting novel sustainable Islamic finance products for retail audiences and capital markets. He is also a published author of over 100 Second-Party Opinions on green/ sustainability-linked capital market transactions during his time at Sustainalytics in Canada.

He is a Chartered Accountant from India and holds an MBA (specialized in business and sustainability) from Schulich School of Business, Toronto.

Net Zero Transition and Partnerships, HSBC

Naveen Raza

Naveen is a banking professional with over 18 years of experience.  Her early career started in Islamic Finance with HSBC Amanah, since then she has worked in various roles at HSBC in the UK and UAE including Private Banking & Wealth Management, Strategy & Planning, Streamlining & Process Excellence.  She also has extensive experience in Project Managementand ESG.  Recently Naveen was the Head of Sustainability & Financial Inclusion for Wealth & Personal Banking HSBC EMEA.

She is now looking after Net Zero Transition & Partnerships in the HSBC MENAT Sustainability Centre of Excellence which includes working on customer’s transitions plans as well as developing HSBC’s external sustainability and philanthropic partnerships.

Global Steering Group, Scottish Green Finance Taskforce, Global Ethical Finance Initiative

David Pitt-Watson

David is a leading thinker and practitioner in responsible investment, and serves as a Member of GEFI’s Global Steering Group and Chair of the Scottish Green Finance Taskforce. Born and brought up in Scotland, he was co-founder, and CEO of Hermes Focus Funds & Equity Ownership Service. These became the largest responsible investment group of any fund manager in the world. Throughout his career he has been deeply involved in policy, particularly in the field of corporate governance and financial market regulation. He has led numerous initiatives to improve the performance of the financial system. At GEFI, David is the Chair of the Scottish Taskforce for Green and Sustainable Financial Services, for which GEFI is the secretariat.