Could you provide a brief journey of how you arrived where you are today?
After obtaining a law degree in 1973 and qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1976, my banking career started in 1979 with the largest Pakistani bank, Habib Bank. Later I joined Banque Indosuez (presently Credit Agricole S.A.) in 1986 and moved to their joint venture bank, Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) in Saudi Arabia in 1990. For the past 23 years, I have been with this leading organization. While I have always been a corporate and investment banker, my interest in Islamic banking started during my earlier days with Habib Bank in Pakistan in the early 1980s, when it provided syndicated project financing under the Participation Term Certificate.
Banque Saudi Fransi started Islamic banking activities in early 1990s by introducing Ijarah and Musharakah finance and later formed its Shariah board in 2003 to introduce a number of retail, corporate, treasury and asset management products. I took over as the head of Islamic banking at BSF in 2004 and have gone a long way in a short span of time.
What does your role involve?
Being historically a conventional bank, Islamic banking is offered at BSF under an Islamic banking window. The Islamic banking division is an independent division and assists all business lines in developing Shariah compliant products and to ensure that these products are implemented in the Shariah compliant manner.
What is your greatest achievement to date?
I am proud to have played an important part in the substantial growth of Islamic banking in Saudi Arabia in general and BSF in particular, during the last decade. This required continuous learning and self-development, in order to introduce innovative Shariah compliant solutions to cater to the entire needs of various segments of the customers, who have traditionally been only offered conventional banking products.
Which of your products/services deliver the best results?
Murabahah and Ijarah are the two major concepts under which we have developed most of our corporate, retail and treasury products. Additionally, BSF has an edge over other banks in providing Shariah compliant financing to auto dealers, whereby the bank purchases their large number of mostly Ijarah-based pool of receivables, under a securitization structure without recourse, in the true spirit of profit and loss sharing concept of Shariah compliant banking.
What are the strengths of your business?
1) Our strong corporate client base. We have been maintaining our strong market share in this segment for decades. Leveraging on this strength, we have embarked on marketing for all other business lines of the bank and joint venture operations in the investment banking, insurance and lease finance.
2) The relationship management team at various segments of our business has extensive experience, skill and knowledge. They have been associated with the bank for a very long time; resulting in maintaining our strong relationship with a large number of leading corporate customers in the country.
What are the factors contributing to the success of your company?
1) The commitment of our board of directors and the senior management to a long-established vision. This is very important in bringing stability and ensuring that we stay on course.
2) The ability to make quick decisive decisions in the face of turbulence and in times of business opportunity.
What are the obstacles faced in running your business today?
The limited level of awareness and knowledge of participants (staff and customers) of the intricate differences between Islamic and conventional banking. This is especially pronounced in the area of documentation and operational processes.
Where do you see the Islamic finance industry in the next five years?
Volumes will be significantly larger than where we are today, and it will most likely be the dominant mode of financing in the Islamic world. We have witnessed exponential growth in the last decade, and this trend will most definitely continue, at least for the next 10-15 years, before a state of equilibrium is reached.
Name one thing you would like to see change in the world of Islamic finance.
Increased participation and active involvement of the regulatory bodies, especially within the GCC and the Middle East countries. The Islamic finance industry is in much need of standardization of products and uniformity, and this can only be achieved when the regulators step in, namely the central banks, to take charge in a similar way to they currently do for conventional banking.