Speaker for IFTC 2008 were:

Rt. Hon. Jack Straw MP
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

Jack Straw MP was appointed Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in June 2007.

He has previously served as Leader of the House of Commons, Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Home Secretary. In Opposition he served as shadow Home Secretary, shadow Environment Secretary and shadow Education Secretary.

Mr Straw was born in 1946 and educated at Brentwood School, Essex and Leeds University. He was called to the Bar in 1972. He is a visiting Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford and a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. Mr Straw was Home Secretary from 1997-2001. He was Shadow Home Secretary from 1995 -1997. From 1992 -1994 he was Shadow Environment Secretary and from 1987 -1992 Mr Straw was Shadow Education Secretary. From 1983 -1987 he was Opposition spokesman on Local Government and from 1980 -1983 on Treasury matters. He served as member of the Labour Party National Executive Committee from 1994 -1995.

Rt. Hon. Stephen Timms MP
Financial Secretary, HM Treasury

Stephen Timms was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury in October 2008. He has strategic oversight of taxation as a whole, including overall responsibility for the Finance Bill, HM Revenue and Customs, and European and international tax issues.

Before this Stephen was Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform at the Department for Work and Pensions from January 2008. This is Stephen’s fourth spell as a Treasury minister and his third as Financial Secretary to the Treasury. Most recently he was Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2006-2007.

Other previous Ministerial positions include: Minister for Competitiveness at the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform; Minister for Pensions Reform in the Department for Work and Pensions; Minister for e-Commerce and Competitiveness and Minister of State for Energy, e-Commerce and Postal Services in the Department for Trade and Industry; Minister of State for School Standards; and Minister of State and Parliamentary Under Secretary in the then Department for Social Security.

Stephen entered Parliament in 1994 as MP for Newham North East and has been MP for East Ham since 1997. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Andrew Smith from May 1997 - March 1998, and to Mo Mowlam from March - July 1998.

Tan Sri Dato' Azman Hj. Mokhtar
Managing Director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Malaysia

Tan Sri Dato' Azman is the Managing Director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad (Khazanah), the strategic investment arm of the Government of Malaysia. Prior to his appointment in June 2004, he was the Managing Director and co-founder of BinaFikir Sdn Bhd, a financial consultancy; Director, Head of Country Research, Salomon Smith Barney in Malaysia and Director, Head of Research, Union Bank of Switzerland in Malaysia. Before that, he held various positions in the then National Electricity Board (LLN) and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).

Tan Sri Dato' Azman is the Chairman of Iskandar Investment Berhad, TM International Berhad and Valuecap Sdn Bhd and holds various board memberships including UEM Berhad and Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA). He serves on various public service bodies including the Advisory Board for Cluster of Excellence Schools, the Board of Governors of the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, the Malaysian Directors Academy, Yayasan Khazanah and the Executive Committee of Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC). He is also a member of the Kuala Lumpur Business Club, the Asia Business Council and the INSEAD East Asia Council. In 2006, AsiaMoney ranked him as Asia’s 38th most influential business leader.

He obtained his M.Phil in Development Studies from Darwin College, Cambridge University, is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He also holds a postgraduate diploma in Islamic Studies from the International Islamic University, Malaysia.

H.E. Mr. Shaukat Aziz,
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan

Mr. Shaukat Aziz served as the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan from August 2004 to November 2007 after having been elected as Member of the National Assembly and the Leader of the House. He relinquished the office of Prime Minister on completion of the five-year tenure of the National Assembly.

Prior to becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Aziz held the portfolio of Finance Minister since November 1999. He was also responsible for Economic Affairs, Planning and Development and the Revenue and Statistics Divisions. During this period, Mr. Aziz embarked upon an ambitious programme of economic stabilization and structural reform which helped revive the sagging Pakistani economy. In 2001, Mr. Aziz was declared as "Finance Minister of the Year" by Euro Money and Bankers Magazine.

In recognition of his services for promoting peace and cooperation in Asia and the world at large, the House of Representatives of the Philippines conferred on him its highest award, the Congressional Medal of Achievement, in 2006.

Prior to his entry into politics, Mr. Aziz had a prolific career in global finance and international banking with Citigroup/Citibank, spanning over 30 years and numerous countries.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari MBE,
Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain

Muhammad Abdul Bari has been the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain since June 2006. Prior to that, he served as the Council's Deputy-Secretary General for four years. A physicist and educationalist by training, Dr Abdul Bari received his doctorate and qualified as a teacher from King's College, London and gained a Management Degree from the Open University.

For the last three decades Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari has served the Muslim community in various capacities. He is currently the Chair of the East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre, London's oldest Islamic centre of worship.

Dr Abdul Bari is a patron of the National Youth Agency and the Ramphal Centre; a board member of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG); he serves on the Good Childhood Inquiry Panel, which was set up by the Children's Society in 2006; and is a trustee of Muslim Aid, an international Muslim charity. He was also a former president of the Islamic Forum of Europe, a Muslim social organisation.

In recognition for his services to the community, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari was conferred an MBE in 2003, was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2005 and an Honorary Fellow of Queen Mary, University of London in July 2008.

Sir Iqbal Sacranie OBE,
Chair of IFTC Advisory Group

Sir Iqbal Sacranie was born in Malawi and arrived in the United Kingdom for further studies in 1969. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Financial Accountants and an Associate of the Institute of Administrative Management.

He was re elected the Secretary General of The Muslim Council of Britain, a national umbrella and representative body of British Muslims in 2004 and completed his 4 year term in June 2006. He was the founding Secretary General when the MCB was established in 1997.

He is also a member of International Advisory Panel of the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF). In May 2008, Sir Iqbal was elected Chairman of Muslim Aid, an international relief agency. He has served on the Advisory Council of four Home Secretaries, advising the government on matters relating to equality and race relations. Sir Iqbal has over the years served on a number of charitable and community organisations including the British Heart Foundation and the National Co-ordinating Committee of European Year Against Racism.

He was honoured with a Knighthood in the Queens Birthday Honours List in 2005.

Sarah Ebanja
Deputy Chief Executive of the London Development Authority

Sarah Ebanja joined the LDA in October 2006 following 5 years as Islington Council's lead chief officer for all matters relating to the multi-million pound mixed-use Arsenal development scheme, the centre-piece of which is the new Emirates Stadium, and which also includes 3,000 new homes, 30,000+ sq metres of business space and a £70m Waste & Recycling facility.

Altogether Sarah has over 20 years experience operating at senior levels in London's public sector. Past positions include deputy Chief Executive of Islington Council (2001-2002); Director of Local Government and European Programmes at the Government Office for London (2000-2001); Deputy Chief Executive and interim Managing Director of Hackney Council (1996-2000) and Assistant Director of Education at Lewisham Council (1992 -1996).

In addition to her work at the LDA, Sarah's time is taken up with her roles as Chair of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust; a member of English Heritage's and CABE's Urban Advisory Panel; a Governor of Birkbeck College, University of London; an advisor to Common Purpose and to Chicks with Bricks; a non-executive director of Local Space housing association, Safer London and RIBA Trust. Previously Sarah led the development of the Bernie Grant Arts Complex in north London.

Ann Pettifor
Executive Director, Advocacy International

Ann Pettifor is executive director of Advocacy International. In the 1990s she helped design and lead an international campaign, Jubilee 2000, which succeeded in persuading a large swathe of world public opinion, as well as world leaders, to cancel $100bn of debt owed by 42 countries. Jubilee 2000 became a template for campaigns such as that of Howard Dean in the 2004 US Primaries; and the Make Poverty History campaign of 2005. In December, the British Chancellor, Gordon Brown paid tribute to the Jubilee 2000 campaign.

Ann has served on the Board of the UN's Human Development Report on the MDGs (2003); as a member of the high level group of the Helsinki Process (sponsored by the Finnish and Tanzanian governments); and as Senior Associate of the new economics foundation (nef).

As well as campaigning and advocacy, Ann Pettifor has contributed to academic debates about international finance. She is editor of "the Real World Economic Outlook" published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2003; and has written a book on the international financial system, "The Coming First World Debt Crisis" in 2006. She is the author of numerous articles and has lectured at the UN, London Business School and the LSE.

She has an honorary doctorate from the University of Newcastle; was awarded the Freedom of the City of Callao in Peru in 1999; the 2000 Pax Christi International Peace Prize; and was made a member of the Order of the Niger by President Obasanjo in 2002.

Iqbal Khan
Founding Board Member and CEO, Fajr Capital

Iqbal Khan is currently CEO of Fajr Capital Limited and has led the Management Team since early 2007. He was previously Founding CEO of HSBC Amanah, where under his eight year tenure it turned into one of the fastest growing and most successful emerging businesses in the HSBC Group. Mr. Khan was a member of the Boards of Directors of HSBC Bank Middle East, The Saudi British Bank, and HSBC Investment Bank (Saudi Arabia). He reported directly to the HSBC Group Holdings Group CEO and now Chairman, Stephen Green. Mr. Khan has been associated with the launch of leading Islamic finance institutions such as Meezan Bank, Citi Islamic Investment Bank, and IDB Infrastructure Fund, and has overseen a wide range of business lines, including retail banking, corporate finance advisory, treasury and risk management, wealth management, private banking and private equity. He is active in a large number of Islamic finance institutions' industry initiatives, serving as an advisor to Islamic Financial Services initiatives of governments in the UK, the UAE and Malaysia. Mr. Khan has received a number of Industry commendations, including a special award from Euromoney in 2006 for his “Outstanding Contribution to Islamic Finance."

Yaqub Yousuf
CEO International Holdings Group

Yaqub Yousuf is CEO of International Holdings, the group company for a diverse range of businesses, projects and investments committed to social responsibility. Headquartered in Dubai, International Holdings specializes in project management, business incubation, strategic investments and private equity.

Yaqub has spearheaded the growth of International Holdings’ numerous entities and its acquisitions locally and internationally, as well as creating a unique corporate culture with a strong focus on benefiting the community and the environment.

He has held positions of investment advisor, strategic advisor and shareholders' representative to a number of prominent Gulf families and companies. He was instrumental in the development of a number of key government concepts and ventures in the region, as well as acting as an advisor to many international companies.

Yaqub's expertise lies in concept, formation and development of unique business ventures in international markets.

Shahnaz Al-Sadat
Executive Director, Investments, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Malaysia

Shahnaz Al-Sadat Abdul Mohsein was the Chief Financial Officer of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment arm of Government of Malaysia.

She is a CPA and holds an LLB (Hons.) degree from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. She has more than 15 years of working experience in Audit, Corporate Finance, Process Risk Consulting with the last 8 years in Senior Management positions. Shahnaz has been involved in various structuring of Islamic Exchangeable Sukuks in the last few years.

Currently, Shahnaz is on sabbatical pursuing an Executive MBA programme at IMD International in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Judge Khurshid Hassan Drabu

Judge Drabu began his career as a leading immigration lawyer and headed the grant aided voluntary organisation, UKIAS. In the early nineties he was the pioneer of a campaign for protection of Muslims from discrimination on grounds of religion while at the Commission for Racial Equality as its Head of Litigation & Complaints. He also spearheaded a campaign for better enforcement powers for the CRE to eliminate racial discrimination. He played a leading role in the formation of the Muslim Council of Britain in 1997 as author of its Constitution and the first Chair of its Legal Affairs Committee.

In 2002, he was appointed Honorary Adviser on Islamic Affairs to the Ministry of Defence. He has recently completed drafting the constitution of the Mosque and Imams National Advisory Body, an independent community led body which will facilitate self regulation of mosques and imams with a view to improving standards of governance. In recognition of his services, he was presented the Alija Izetbegovic award for Good Citizenship in 2007. Also in 2007, the President of the Law Society of England & Wales handed him the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Muslim Lawyers.

Judge Drabu was called to the Bar in 1977. In 1996 he became the first Muslim to be appointed to the judiciary. From 2000-2005 he was the Vice President of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal. He has recently retired from full time employment as a Senior Immigration Judge and a legal member of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.

Phelan Hill
Head of Islamic Finance, HM Treasury

Phelan Hill is a Senior Policy Advisor working in the Finance and Banking Branch of HM Treasury Team. The section covers aspects of the corporate taxation system relating to the financial sector, including the legislative treatment of different methods of structured finance, hedge funds and the taxation of foreign exchange and derivatives.

Phelan is the lead official on all policy taxation issues relating to Islamic finance and securitisation. In addition he chairs the joint HM Treasury / HMRC technical working group that meets with industry to discuss Islamic finance tax issues. He currently advises on tax matters relating to the Government's possible Sovereign Sukuk issuance. Previous to this, he worked in City of London for a number of years on capital markets.

Dr. M. Umer Chapra
Islamic Development Bank

Dr Chapra is Research Advisor at the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) since November 1999. He joined IRTI after retiring as Senior Economic Advisor from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency where he served for 35 years.

He has made a number of seminal contributions to Islamic Economics and Finance over more than three decades in the form of books and monographs (13), papers (81) and book reviews (14). He has received a number of awards, including the Islamic Development Bank Award for Islamic Economics and the prestigious King Faysal International Award for Islamic Studies, both in 1989, and the Institute of Overseas Pakistanis’ Award for service to Islam in 1995.

M Iqbal Asaria
Afkar Consultants Ltd

Mr Iqbal is a trained Economist and Accountant. He has worked as an Investment Analyst in the City of London for several years. For the last ten years he has been involved in consultancy on financial product structuring and niche marketing services to faith and ethnic communities in the UK.

For four years he was the chair of the Business and Economics Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). He is now a Special Adviser on Business and Economic Affairs to the Secretary General of the MCB. In this capacity, he served as a member of the Governor of the Bank of England's working party set up to facilitate the introduction of shari’ah compliant financial products in the UK market.

Iqbal is a member of the Islamic Finance sub-committee of the City's Financial Markets Law Committee (FMLC). He is also an associate of the Islamic Banking and Finance Institute of Malaysia (IBFIM).

Iqbal teaches various BA and MA level courses in Islamic Finance, Banking and Insurance at the Islamic College for Advanced Studies and CASS Business School.

He was awarded the CBE in 2005 Queen's Honours List for services to international development.

Farouq Sheikh
CEO, Care Tech

Farouq has been a key architect in CareTech’s growth having led the vision and strategy since its creation in 1993. With a background in law and extensive financial and commercial experience, Farouq has been instrumental in securing debt and equity funding for the company as well as leading the management team in winning a number of long-term contracts from local and health authorities.

Farouq has initiated and overseen successful equity investments and the subsequent exits of 3i Group PLC (in 1996 and 2002) and Barclays Private Equity (in 2002 and 2005).

His extensive knowledge of the marketplace, commercial and negotiating expertise assisted in the group’s growth, leading eventually to a successful listing on the AIM market at the London Stock Exchange in 2005.

In 2007, Farouq became Entrepreneur of the Year in the prestigious Laing and Buisson business awards. In 2008, Farouq and his brother Haroon, were winners of the highly prized Coutts Family Business Prize and widely applauded for the quality and social integrity of the company they created.

Imran Khand
CEO & Co-Founder, Picsel Technologies

Imran Khand is the Chief Executive Officer for Picsel Technologies, which is a dynamic platform provider delivering the richest user experience on mobiles. He is a successful technology executive who has enjoyed a distinguished career. Prior to founding Picsel in 1998, he established two successful technology companies. Before that, Imran led a Scottish Government initiative for the training and development of young people and was actively involved in a number of other community and government joint ventures.

As a recognised technology veteran, Imran is a member of Scottish Enterprise, ICT Advisory Group and TM Forum; an industry association focused on transforming business processes, operations and systems for managing and monetizing on-line information, communications and entertainment services.

Imran is now applying his in depth understanding of business outside the realm of mobile technology. His extensive experience in securing investment, corporate leadership and company execution has allowed him to develop various business ventures.

Farmida Bi, Partner
Norton Rose LLP

Farmida Bi has specialised in capital markets transactions for over 15 years and has advised on English and New York law debt and equity capital markets transactions (including Islamic finance and securitisations), emerging markets, regulatory issues, structured finance and mergers and acquisitions. She acts for a broad range of the leading financial institutions and for both sovereign and corporate issuers.

Farmida is an expert in Islamic capital markets and has advised the arrangers on a number of the leading transactions, including the Tamweel securitisation, recognised as the first real Islamic securitisation, and on the PCFC Sukuk issue to fund Dubai World's purchase of P&O.

Farmida is a recognised expert in the Islamic capital markets field and is the only other leading individual, other than Neil Miller, who was listed for Islamic Finance in Chambers & Partners 2007.

Farmida qualified as solicitor in 1992 and as a New York attorney in 1999.

Anthony Saint
Head of Origination, Gatehouse Bank

Anthony Saint is Head of Origination at Gatehouse Bank, the latest Islamic investment bank to be licensed by the FSA in the UK. Anthony joined Gatehouse in May 2008 after a decade at Standard Bank, where he was a Director in their Specialised Finance team focusing on Islamic finance, acquisition finance and other structured transactions, with a particular emphasis on the emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. His previous experience includes SG Warburg and Republic Bank of New York specialising in derivatives and structured products.

In the Capital Markets arena, Gatehouse arranges both Sukuk issues and financing facilities aimed at the bank market, both for Islamic borrowers wishing to access the international markets and for non-Islamic borrowers wishing to tap into the liquidity in the GCC. This includes acquisition finance transactions and corporate and asset finance. Gatehouse’s Institutional Wealth Management division provides sophisticated Islamic investors with a broad product offering, sourcing a wide range of investment opportunities and structuring these into shari'ah compliant products.

Mohammed Paracha
CEO, Al Salam

Mohammed Paracha joined Al Salam Bank, Bahrain in February 2006 as an Executive Vice President and is part of the Bank's senior management. Mohammed formed part of the team that established the Bank and has been central to the Bank's development and successes both in terms of growth and private equity investments, where he has played a key role in each transaction. Mohammed relocated back to the United Kingdom this year to take the post of Chief Executive of Al Salam Europe, the Bank’s subsidiary responsible for its European investments.

Over the years, Mohammed has been singled out as a leading industry player in the Islamic Finance sector by many publications and has been responsible for changes to laws to facilitate Islamic banking in jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, where Mohammed sat on the Bank of England's Committee on Islamic Finance. Mohammed has worked on many cutting edge Islamic transactions in a variety of sectors including real estate, aviation, shipping, oil & gas, alternative energy, telecoms and emerging technologies. He regularly speaks at conferences, on radio and television and has received numerous awards in recognition of his achievements.

Habib Motani
Partner, Clifford Chance LLP

Habib Motani is a partner in Clifford Chance's Finance and Capital Markets Group, where he heads the Derivatives Group. He specialises in derivatives, structured capital markets products and investment banking sales, and trading advisory and infrastructure issues. He is involved in a number of market initiatives to prepare market standard documentation for shari'ah compliant derivatives transactions and shari'ah compliant repo transactions. He has worked on several shari’ah compliant structured products for financial institution clients.

Neill Gibson
Partner, Trowers & Hamlins

Neill is a partner in the Banking and Finance department of Trowers & Hamlins. He has a wide experience in banking and finance specialising in housing finance, property finance and Islamic finance. This covers syndicated and bilateral lending (both secured and unsecured) as well as some capital markets and derivative transactions.

In conjunction with other experts at Trowers & Hamlins, Neill has helped devise innovative lending and security structures for Islamic investors wishing to invest in real estate in England and in Europe. Neill works very closely with Trowers & Hamlins' offices in the Middle East, providing support on a wide range of financing matters.

Omar Shaikh
Private Equity & Islamic Finance, Ernst & Young

Omar Shaikh is recognised as the Ernst & Young UK firms’ Subject Matter Expert for Islamic finance and he has successfully led the build out of the UK Islamic financial services across multiple sector teams.

Omar's background includes working with the Ernst & Young Private Equity team and the multi-award winning Ernst & Young Islamic Financial Services Group in Bahrain. Working in Bahrain he specialised in advising banks and financial institutions on shari’ah compliance and strategic issues. His work included creating operational frameworks for new Islamic banks and managing the conversion of existing conventional banks into Islamic financial institutions. As part of the Private Equity team at EY London, Omar has worked on a number of transactions providing pre-acquisition financial due diligence services to leading European PE funds.

In addition, Omar sits on the UK Treasury Advisory Committee advising the Government on fiscal policies for Islamic products and is also an Executive Board Member of the Islamic Finance Council, UK (IFC), a not-for-profit body established to promote the Islamic finance industry. The IFC are the lead advisors to the Scottish Government on Islamic finance and have pioneered a number of training, education and thought leadership initiatives endorsed by the UKTI.

Omar has trained as an auditor and received his CA qualification from ICAS, and a Bachelors degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Glasgow, UK.

Richard Day
Head of Corporate Finance, Arden Partners

Richard Day is Head of Corporate Finance and a founder of Arden Partners. A qualified solicitor, Richard spent several years in private practice with various City law firms. He then worked for 12 years in Corporate Finance at Cazenove, before leaving and helping to set up Arden Partners. Richard covers a range of sectors for both domestic and international companies.

Charles Coyne
Analyst, KBC Peel

Charles joined KBC Peel Hunt in 2003 and has over 20 years’ equity research experience as a UK and pan-European insurance analyst having worked for Panmure Gordon, Credit Lyonnais and Benfield. Charles studied Maths at Imperial College and is both an associate of the Royal College of Science (ARCS), and a fellow of the Securities Institute (FSI), he also has an MBA from the University of Liverpool.

Mohammed Amin
Tax partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Mohammed Amin is a tax partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP leading their Islamic Finance practice in the UK. Amin is a member of the HM Treasury Islamic Finance Experts Group, established to advise the Government on Islamic Finance strategy.

He is also a Council Member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, a member of the Policy & Technical Committee of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and chairs the Business and Economics Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain. Amin was included in the Muslim Power 100, a list of the hundred most influential Muslims in the UK.