islamic banking

Join us in this fascinating discussion with our guest, Wassim Hosny El-Metwally, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer at Egypt's Al Baraka Bank.

He beautifully connects the dots between his professional journey and the path to a sustainable future, sharing how he pioneered the establishment of a sustainability unit in the world of Islamic banking.

Wassim bridges the gap between finance and sustainability, presenting a compelling narrative of Al Baraka Bank's strides in offering sustainable finance solutions to SMEs. Stumble upon the potential of sustainable finance in Egypt and the impact of the BRICS states as he cuts through the complexities.

Not only will you discover the role of the government and the Central Bank of Egypt in attracting green funds, but you'll also glean insights into how the attending COP 27 has fueled sustainability efforts for Wassim and his team.

Tune in to join us for an enlightening journey into the crucial symbiosis of finance and sustainability!

The podcast is powered by the corporate sustainability platform NXT Boardroom. Follow our latest updates on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening,
Your host Valentin Weidl

Omar Mansur, Managing Director APAC, Codebase Technologies

Half of the population over the age of 15 in countries in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) do not have a bank account. That’s a serious drag on potential economic development and growth. What needs to be done? Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Omar Mansur, Managing Director APAC for Codebase Technologies.

Mahmood Shamsher Ali, Pakistan Country Representative, Alif Bank

Alif is a Central Asian FinTech operating as a full-fledged bank in Tajikistan and as an e-commerce and FinTech company in Uzbekistan. The company, originally established in 2014, has a full banking licence in Tajikistan and a payments licence in Uzbekistan. It has also applied for a digital banking licence in Pakistan – one of 20 applicants for 5 licences on offer. Alif now has more than 1 million users and, for example, a market share of more than 50% of all Visa payments in Tajikistan. The group’s ambition is to become a global Islamic FinTech unicorn. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence discusses Alif’s ambitions with the bank’s Pakistan Country Representative, Mahmood Shamsher Ali.

More and more, we are seeing Sukuk issuers and Islamic finance transactions featuring green and sustainability elements in Malaysia and around the world. Azman Othman Luk and Kelvin Loh of Rahmat Lim & Partners discuss with IFN’s Nessreen Tamano what can be expected in this area.

In this episode, IFN Managing Editor Vineeta Tan sits down with Muneer Khan, a partner and the regional head for the Middle East at award-winning law firm Simmons and Simmons, to understand how Islamic fintech deals and the Shariah fintech sector are adapting to a rapidly changing world triggered by the global pandemic.

There is an area of opportunity within the Indonesian Islamic finance and banking sector for Islamic fintechs to bridge the gap between technology and Shariah finance, that ALAMI has pinned its focus on. Dima Djani, the CEO of the Shariah peer-to-peer platform, joins IFN's Nessreen Tamano in a podcast episode to discuss the work needed in this area.

L Guru Raghavendran, Senior Vice President, BFS Products, Azentio Software

Azentio Software topped two categories in IBSI’s latest Sales League Table: compliance management with Amlock; and Islamic lending (retail) with Kastle. The company offers core software to financial services providers and ERP solutions to mid-market enterprises across the Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and India. Azentio has more than 800 customers in over 60 countries. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Guru Raghavendran, SVP, BFS Products for Azentio Software. In a career spanning 20+ years, Guru has also worked for HDFC, Standard Chartered and HSBC, as well as with a number of IT organisations and as an entrepreneur. 

Tamer Al Mauge, Managing Director MENA, Pakistan & Bangladesh, Codebase Technologies

The Middle East has been seen in the past as overbanked despite some sectors of the population still being underbanked. But that hasn’t stopped the development of a clutch of neobanks as institutions invest in digital banking solutions, launching new brands alongside existing banks. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence discusses digitisation and digitalisation in banks in the MENA region with Tamer Al Mauge, Managing Director MENA, Pakistan & Bangladesh, of Codebase Technologies

DLA Piper's Paul McViety and Sohail Ali share their thoughts with IFN'S Nessreen Tamano on how well the global Islamic finance industry responded to the pandemic, as well as the opportunities the industry can take to hold a position of global significance.

The Iran Fara Bourse’s Structured Financial Product Market Manager Neda Bashiri and Strategy Director Mahsa Tavakoli speak to IFN’s Nessreen Tamano about the upcoming products and initiatives in the Iranian capital market.  

Understandably, it has been a volatile year driven by a variety of factor, most significant of all, the COVID-19 pandemic. So how have these impacted the performance of Sukuk? And what can we expect moving into the new year? Khoo Poh Sim, the head of global Sukuk at BNP Paribas Asset Management Najmah Malaysia, joins IFN Managing Editor Vineeta Tan on the show to share her thoughts.

In this episode, we speak to Ahmad Shahriman Mohd Shariff, CEO of CIMB Islamic to learn how Malaysian Islamic banks are coping with the fallout of the pandemic, a sovereign credit rating downgrade and what to expect for 2021.