azerbaijan: emerging market islamic banking and finance
azerbaijan: emerging market islamic banking and finance
azerbaijan: emerging market islamic banking and finance
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NEWHORIZON Shawwal–Dhu Al Hijjah 1429<br />
IIBI NEWS<br />
IIBI members making waves<br />
Muhammad Ismail<br />
(left), financial<br />
controller of Sony<br />
Marketing Europe<br />
<strong>and</strong> member of the<br />
IIBI, received Sony<br />
Europe’s prestigious<br />
‘Luca Pacioli’ award.<br />
Prior to joining Sony,<br />
he was head of<br />
<strong>finance</strong> function of the Pepsi Plant at Baku,<br />
Azerbaijan. His responsibilities included<br />
setting up <strong>and</strong> training the plant’s <strong>finance</strong><br />
team. Before this he worked at Siemens.<br />
Ismail is a chartered accountant <strong>and</strong><br />
completed his audit training at<br />
PricewaterhouseCoopers member firm; he<br />
also holds MBA in <strong>market</strong>ing <strong>and</strong> MSc in<br />
accounting <strong>and</strong> <strong>finance</strong> degrees.<br />
Robert Gray (right),<br />
chairman of the debt<br />
<strong>finance</strong> <strong>and</strong> advisory<br />
division of HSBC <strong>and</strong><br />
member of the IIBI,<br />
has been appointed<br />
lead representative<br />
for Qatar by the UK<br />
Trade <strong>and</strong> Investment’s<br />
Financial<br />
Services Sector Advisory Board. He joined<br />
HSBC in May 1994 as chairman of HSBC<br />
Markets Limited. Prior to joining HSBC,<br />
he was head of JPMorgan’s capital <strong>market</strong><br />
activities in Europe. Gray was appointed<br />
vice chairman, client development of<br />
HSBC Investment Bank plc in September<br />
1999, <strong>and</strong> took his current role in March<br />
2001.<br />
IIBI Membership aims to create<br />
a fraternity of Islamic <strong>finance</strong><br />
professionals <strong>and</strong> other people with<br />
interest in the Islamic economic<br />
principles. It fosters cooperation in<br />
the exchange of information <strong>and</strong> ideas,<br />
as well as advances the knowledge <strong>and</strong><br />
practices of Islamic <strong>finance</strong> worldwide.<br />
IIBI Membership provides a wide range<br />
of exclusive benefits to individual<br />
<strong>and</strong> corporate members, including<br />
continuing professional education,<br />
training <strong>and</strong> original research<br />
emphasising the Islamic ethical values<br />
that are neither time-bound nor biased<br />
by the whims of human beings.<br />
iPods for IIBI’s knowledge test winners<br />
society’, according to Ismail Patel, director<br />
of Islam Expo.<br />
Islam Expo visitors were invited to take a<br />
knowledge test <strong>and</strong> win an Apple iPod in a<br />
prize draw of correct entries.<br />
Everyone was welcome to test their<br />
knowledge of Islamic <strong>finance</strong> at the<br />
IIBI’s st<strong>and</strong> during Islam Expo 2008<br />
exhibition, Europe’s largest celebration<br />
of Islamic culture, arts <strong>and</strong> innovation,<br />
held in London earlier this year. The<br />
exhibition’s primary purpose was<br />
‘to build bridges between Britain’s<br />
Muslim communities <strong>and</strong> the rest of<br />
‘A few days after participating in the IIBI’s<br />
knowledge test at Islam Expo I received an<br />
email with a subject line “Congratulations –<br />
winner of Apple iPod”’, recalls Batoul<br />
Maraqa (left), one of the two winners.<br />
‘And although the prize was supplementary<br />
to the benefits I earned from my<br />
participation in the exhibition, it was a<br />
pleasant surprise.’<br />
‘Though I have studied <strong>finance</strong> as one<br />
of my core subjects, I haven’t read about<br />
Islamic <strong>finance</strong> before,’ she admits <strong>and</strong> adds<br />
that one of her friends assisted with finding<br />
the right answers. ‘I would like to thank the<br />
IIBI for its distinguished effort to introduce<br />
us to Shari’ah-compliant <strong>finance</strong>.’<br />
‘I enjoyed talking with staff at the IIBI<br />
st<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> took the quiz. I take a keen<br />
interest in Islamic <strong>finance</strong> <strong>and</strong> was glad for<br />
the opportunity to test my knowledge,’ says<br />
the other winner, Lamaan Ball (above). ‘I<br />
was really pleased to be told that I had<br />
won the iPod. Thank you very much for it,<br />
much appreciated. I wish you great success<br />
for the ongoing work, Masha Allah.’<br />
www.newhorizon-<strong>islamic</strong><strong>banking</strong>.com<br />
IIBI 35