The 20th Anniversary Special Edition World Islamic Banking Award Winners Announced

Bahrain: 05 December 2012: The achievements, innovations, and excellence in the international Islamic banking and finance industry were recognised at the award ceremony held last night along the sidelines of the 20^th Anniversary Special Edition of the World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC 2013) at the Gulf Hotel in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The annual WIBC Awards, which are among the oldest and most prestigious in the world, are designed to recognize individuals and institutions that have made significant contributions to the Islamic banking and finance industry.

H.E. Rasheed M. Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, presented the awards to the winners at an impressive gala dinner and awards ceremony held on the sidelines of WIBC 2013. More than 1,300 industry leaders from over 50 countries attended the 20th Anniversary WIBC 2013 which was officially inaugurated yesterday and also featured the attendance of His Highness Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Afaq Khan voted as the WIBC Islamic Banker of the Year 2013

Afaq Khan, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Saadiq, was voted as the 2013 WIBC Islamic Banker of the Year. The WIBC Islamic Banker of the Year award uses a unique peer-based voting system to identify the winner from a short-list of nominees with the results audited by EY. The WIBC Islamic Banker of the Year Award is presented to an individual who is an established banker, leading a reputable financial services provider, and who has contributed significantly to the Islamic financial services industry. The key criteria set by the awards committee for the award included excellence in leadership, overall strategic direction of their Islamic banking business, new strategic initiatives and innovations, and overall contribution to the global Islamic banking and finance industry.  Receiving the award, Afaq Khan said “it is an honour for me to receive this recognition in the presence of friends, colleagues and peers whom I have worked with over many years. As the Islamic finance industry continues to grow and gain prominence across geographies, we are well-positioned to further capitalize on the opportunities for development. I thank H.E. Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, for his strong support in extending the influence of Islamic finance in Bahrain and across the Middle East. I would also like to dedicate this award to the team at Standard Chartered Saadiq, without whom our growth and progress is not possible. I am delighted to be accepting this award which is considered one of the most prestigious in the industry.”

Kuwait Finance House – Bahrain wins the WIBC 2013 Institutional Excellence Award

Based on select criteria assessed by the WIBC Awards Committee, the WIBC Institutional Excellence Award 2013, was presented to Kuwait Finance House – Bahrain (KFH-Bahrain). Kuwait Finance House – Bahrain enjoys a reputation as a performance-driven, results-oriented institution, combining global investment strategies with the provision of popular retail products and services; and has made major advances and experienced considerable growth in the last few years, allowing it to further develop its products and services and provide outstanding investment opportunities for its customers. At the forefront of the investment and finance sectors, KFH-Bahrain has developed a series of successful projects and made further investments in diverse sectors of the economy. KFH-Bahrain was also the Lead and Transaction Adviser of the historic three way merger between Elaf Bank, Capital Management House and Capivest. After having initiated discussions with the three banks in late 2011, KFH-Bahrain worked closely with them to create a robust merged entity that is able to better compete in the dynamic and growing global Islamic banking and investment industry. Abdulhakeem Y. Alkhayyat, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait Finance House – Bahrain received the award on behalf of KFH.

H.E. Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel recognized for his outstanding contribution to the Islamic finance industry

The WIBC 2013 Outstanding Contribution Award – an award which recognizes outstanding contributions made by an individual towards the overall development of the global Islamic finance industry and significantly contributing towards shaping the future of the Islamic finance industry was awarded to H.E. Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, Chairman and Founder of Dallah al Baraka Group (DBG). H.E. Sheikh Saleh Kamel, widely acclaimed as the father of contemporary Islamic finance, has been a pioneer of contemporary Islamic finance since the 1970s. Through his Dallah Albaraka Group, H.E. Sheikh Saleh Kamel started his Islamic banking group the Albaraka Banking Group and under his leadership, the group launched Islamic banking subsidiaries in the Middle East, Turkey, South Africa, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, the United Kingdom, Tunisia, Algeria and investments in entities in Malaysia. H.E. Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel and has undertaken a number of pioneering initiatives in the global Islamic banking and finance sector.

The 20^th Anniversary Special Edition Awards Ceremony of WIBC also featured a number of special awards categories that recognized pioneering initiatives in the global Islamic banking and finance industry looking back over the past 2 decades. The special WIBC Anniversary Awards were presented to the winners by Khalid Hamad Abdul-Rahman Hamad, Executive Director – Banking Supervision, Central Bank of Bahrain.

The WIBC Industry Innovator Award was awarded to Rushdi Siddiqui, Advisor (Islamic Finance, Halal & OIC), Thomson Reuters. With a career spanning more than two decades, Rushdi has been instrumental in launching a number of industry firsts. During his tenure at Thomson Reuters he led a team to successfully establish the world’s first Islamic equity index, first Sukuk index, first Islamic sustainability index, first halal food index, and first Islamic interbank benchmark rate (IIBR). His continuous efforts to champion the industry over 2 decades through various channels, including his thought-provoking newspaper columns and speaking engagements, together with his new vision to organize and grow the global halal industry from its current form and size, position him as a leading innovator who has helped to propel the Islamic finance industry forward globally.

The WIBC Shari’ah Leadership Award was awarded to Dr. Hussain Hamed Hassan. In his professional career, spanning over half a century, he has created many landmark innovative products for the Islamic finance industry, including a number of world firsts such as: Convertible Sukuk, Multi-class Sukuk, Securitisation Sukuk, Currency and Rate Swaps, Personal Finance, and IPO Finance. He has also successfully enabled projects to convert conventional banks into Islamic banks as well as the conversion of DFM as the world’s first Islamic stock exchange. He has also supervised the grand plan of translating 200 Islamic books into different languages and has authored 21 books on Islamic law, Islamic finance, Islamic economics, Islamic art, Islamic social studies, in addition to writing over 400 extensive articles on these subjects.

The WIBC Human Capital Development Award went to Tamkeen for their key role in institutionalising new concepts within Bahrain’s private sector, including SME and micro-financing, entrepreneurship as a viable career path, women empowerment, modern accounting and auditing systems within SMEs, and many other paradigms needed for a vibrant sustainable private sector. Suad Al Shakrani, Senior Manager – Human Capital Development at Tamkeen collected the award on behalf of Tamkeen.

The WIBC Thought Leadership Award was awarded to EY. With the establishment of EY’s Islamic Banking Centre for Excellence 14 years ago, the Centre has worked on more than 300 unique projects including regulatory frameworks, infrastructure institutions, new bank set-ups, and bank conversions. The landmark agreement signed between AAOIFI and EY to promote Shari’ah compliance, standardisation and industry development in Islamic finance was an industry first, which played a key role in accelerating the growth of Islamic finance in a credible, sustainable manner and yielded significant synergies for financial institutions seeking Shari’ah solutions for their financing and structuring needs. EY was also the first professional services firm to establish a dedicated team to service clients in the Islamic banking and finance industry and is the only professional services firm to offer Shari’ah auditing services. Receiving the award on behalf of EY, Essa Al Jowder, Bahrain Office Managing Partner, EY said that “we recognize the responsibility that comes with this award.  EY is very honored and we reiterate our commitment to continue to work towards building a better working world for our Shari’ah sensitive clients and businesses.”

 The awards ceremony was facilitated by Nadine Hani, Senior Business News Presenter, Al-Arabiya News Channel.