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Khalid Howladar
Vice-President and Senior Analyst, Middle East and Islamic Structured Finance Moody`s Investors Service London 32 British |
Could you provide a brief journey of how you arrived where you are today? My original background was as a software engineer with two degrees from Imperial Collage in London. Part-time work as a journalist (EMAP publishing) and an internship (J.P. Morgan) led to a developer role in CSFB Risk Management. The focus here was emerging markets fixed income, but whereas my computing background helped in what is a very analytical field, I found that I was more interested in the “real world” practicality of finance, as oppose to the abstractions of programming, and quickly changed to a risk analyst role. While in this role – which included the EM crises of Asia and Argentina – I undertook part-time studies in London Business School to obtain an MSc in Finance. Upon completion (in 2001) I moved to Moody’s Structured Finance Group to focus on credit derivatives and CDOs. In addition to my regular role as an analyst, I lead business development for conventional and Islamic structured finance. I’m also chair of Moody’s Middle Eastern Co-ordination Committee, which organizes our strategy in the region.
What does your role involve? I now find myself travelling around the region to educate the market on securitization and Sukuk structures and explain the benefits of credit ratings. This is usually via conferences, meetings and seminars. As we are an independent provider of credit opinion not involved in selling securities to investors, our opinion is trusted and valued by investors. I also work with deal arrangers on our risk analysis methods so that they are prepared and can ask questions before they have an active deal.
What is your greatest achievement to date? Which of your products/services deliver the best results? What are the strengths of your business? What are the factors contributing to the success of your company? What are the obstacles faced in running your business today? Where do you see the Islamic finance industry, maybe in the next five years? Islamic banks are very small and I think there will be consolidation across borders else they just cannot compete (due to cost of funds) with the global powerhouses. We’ll see increased Sukuk issuance both in volume and where the Sukuk are genuinely asset backed (as described in the upcoming paper “Shariah and Sukuk: A Moody’s Primer”) and closer to the Shariah ideal.
Name one thing you would like to see change in the world of Islamic finance?
Moody’s Investors Service is among the world’s most respected, widely utilized sources for credit ratings, research and risk analysis. In addition to the core ratings business, Moody’s publishes market leading credit opinions, deal research and commentary, serving more than 9,000 customer accounts at some 2,400 institutions around the globe. |