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Could you provide a brief journey of how you arrived where you are today? Having more than 20 years of banking experience in many areas in the financial services — starting from customer service to risk management and going through most of the banking divisions — I was in senior roles at the National Bank of Dubai (NBD) for about 10 years. I also served as senior commercial manager, senior manger business development and planning and secretary to the board of directors. I was on the boards of many scientific and social organizations. These include the UAE Ministry of Health Fund and Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies and a local sports club. I was a former member of the UAE Anti-Money Laundering Committee and the UAE Nationalization Committee.
What does your role involve?
What is your greatest achievement to date? Other achievements include enabling Mawarid to win several accreditation and awards in competition with long-established banks in the region, such as the ISO standards, business awards and, most importantly, human resources awards for Emiratization Mawarid Finance initiated and organized the Tamaiaz Awards to boost competitiveness and creativity among UAE graduates and senior university students. These awards are entering their third year. Within four years Mawarid Finance was able to build a leadership position in the Islamic finance sector in the UAE and GCC. In the expansion of our business, within a short period of time Mawarid was able to acquire companies such as Al Jazeera Financial Services, established MFI Investments which is wholly owned by the group, and floated the Group’s Dar Takaful (Takaful House), in addition to other investments in the Middle East.
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 in, say, the next five years or so?
Name one thing you would like to see change in the world of Islamic finance. However, much effort is required to develop some products to evaluate the existing conventional products and come with comparable Islamic ones, as well as services that are able to compete with conventional banking. |