Qasim M Qasim is a prominent banker who brings over 40 years of experience in commercial and Islamic banking across the region. He has worked for prominent financial institutions in Jordan, the UAE, Palestine, Bahrain and Qatar.
Could you provide a brief journey of how you arrived where you are today?
My expertise lies in my background as a commercial career banker. After graduating from Cairo University in 1967, I joined the Arab Bank Group in Amman, Jordan. The bank was the flagship of Arab banking in the region where many of the region’s top bankers started their careers and moved to occupy leading positions with regional and international banks.
In 1974, I joined the First National Bank of Chicago, an Illinois-based national bank. I covered all operational and risk areas, trade finance, treasury and financial institutions. I moved to Qatar at the beginning of 1984 to take the opportunity of founding the first Islamic bank in Qatar. Islamic banking was a new concept to the industry at the time, as the first Islamic bank in the region started in Dubai in 1974 (Dubai Islamic Bank).
My banking career has seen me hold the position of CEO in almost all the banks that I have been associated with. I had the overall top to bottom responsibility of managing/ developing the subject institutions that I was assigned to, along with the teams I led. I was also an active contributor, be it a product, a project or even drafting frameworks of contracts and agreements.
What does your role involve?
My role involves working with the Bain & Company team across a range of client acquisition and development activities and case work in the role of expert advisor on live case work. I also provide support to the team in the general marketing and promotion of Bain to the governmental and business community.
What is your greatest achievement to date?
Achievements, especially in the world of banking and finance, cannot be a one man show. With a dedicated and hard-working team and interaction with other professional bankers in the field, especially in those early days of Islamic finance, we succeeded in making our dreams for Islamic finance a reality and also bringing the ideas of early scholars and researchers to light.
Which of your products/services deliver the best results?
Bain offers tailored products and services solutions to suit the unique needs of our individual clients. We don’t settle for off-the-shelf solutions, our approach and recommendations are highly customized. We deliver the best results by helping our clients decide where they want to go, and how to get there.
What are the strengths of your business?
Our business is undertaken by an internationally reputed company with a strong track record of success. Our Bain teams in different regions support and complement teams in the field to bring the best of Bain’s industry and functional expertise to our clients.
We work as partners with our financial services clients to develop clear, practical action plans and support or run the implementation of those plans to ensure performance improvement. Our work covers:
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Reducing costs and complexity to improve performance;
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Harnessing and sourcing information technology that is aligned with strategic goals.
What are the obstacles faced in running your business today?
As Islamic finance is an evolving business, nothing can be considered absolute and unchangeable. Both business leaders and academic scholars alike need to constantly review and evaluate the successes and handicaps faced by businesses and introduce concepts and processes to develop the best practices required to maintain progress and excellence.
Where do you see the Islamic finance industry in the next five years?
Since inception, Islamic finance has grown at the rate of 15-20% annually, despite criticism of its viability and ability to sustain growth. Now, we see that Islamic finance is being practiced by conventional banks and the product is demanded by Islamic and non-Islamic countries alike. The international financial crisis that hit a large number of international financial institutions has barely impacted well-managed Islamic institutions, simply due to the conceptual practice that ties the movement of money with tangible assets and not with pure extension of credit.
Name one thing you would like to see change in the world of Islamic finance.
In the world of business, change is an ongoing process to ensure innovation and excellence. As Islamic finance is an evolving business, nothing can be considered absolute and unchangeable. Both business leaders and academic scholars alike need to constantly review and evaluate the successes and handicaps faced by businesses.