Events

Mr. Ijlal Ahmed Alvi has extensive experience in the financial services industry spanning three decades with regional and international financial institutions. Over the last 15 years, as the Chief Executive of the IIFM he has been actively involved in introducing standardization of Shari’ah-compliant financial documentation and product confirmation templates for the Islamic Financial Services Industry (IFSI). In addition to his responsibilities as CEO and Secretary to the Board of IIFM, Mr. Alvi manages IIFM's market consultations, global working groups, Shari’ah board guidance and legal documentation drafting process in developing IIFM Standards relating to wholesale banking segment of the IFSI. He also manages IIFM’s market awareness seminars and workshops as well as research and publication of the IIFM’s flagship annual Sukuk Report.

Mr. Paul Coles is responsible for overseeing the transactional distribution activity that supports HSBC’s GTRF business. His global role focuses on creating greater consistency in the processes, documentation and investor management, along with working with the regional teams on key multi-jurisdiction transactions. Prior to joining HSBC, Mr. Coles was the global coordinator and EMEA head for trade risk distribution at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Mr. Coles has also worked in the trade credit distribution team at ABN AMRO, and subsequently at RBS as the trade asset management regional head for the NV business (part of the legacy ABN AMRO network). He started his career over 20 years ago at London Forfaiting Company (a specialist trade finance provider) where he held a variety of trade finance roles. Mr. Coles has a BSc in Management Studies from Royal Holloway, University of London and is a member of the Board of the International Trade and Forfaiting Association (ITFA), where he currently chairs the Market Practice Committee.

Mr. Adam Dener is a managing director and founding partner of Fermat Capital's trade finance investment strategy. Adam has over 25 years of experience in banking, accounting, and trade-finance management services with specialization in private-placement credit, treasury and collateral management. Prior to joining Fermat Capital in 2015, Mr. Dener was the managing director of trade finance at Conning, where he developed and led an initiative known formally as Working Capital Finance Investments (WCFI) and now codified as NAIC regulation SSAP 105. This initiative brought together banking and insurance regulators to establish trade credit as a permitted investment class for insurance companies. Previously, Mr. Dener was an executive in residence at Aquiline Capital Partners, where he developed a trade finance venture backed by private equity.

Stacey Facter has been Senior Vice President for Trade Products at BAFT for the last six years. Ms. Facter is responsible for managing all the Association’s activities related to trade products and serves as the primary subject matter expert for trade issues, overseeing and managing BAFT’s trade councils, committees and working groups and helps members develop guidance tools for the trade industry. Ms. Facter serves as a public spokesperson for the organization to stakeholders, regulators and policy makers on industry matters affecting the international trade finance community and is BAFT’s primary technical resource for trade related education and training.Ms. Facter has more than twenty-five years of experience in international banking, including over twenty years with JP Morgan Chase Bank, covering emerging markets, international trade finance, cash and risk management, and securities collateral management.

Mr. Hassan has over twenty-five years of banking experience, spread across Corporate & Consumer Banking, Global Transaction Services and Islamic Finance. He has been with Bank ABC Islamic since 2005. Prior to joining Bank ABC, Mr. Hassan worked for over eleven years with Citigroup and its affiliate in Saudi Arabia, Samba Financial Group. Mr. Hassan joined Citigroup in 1994. In 2005, Mr. Hassan joined Bank ABC Islamic as the Head of Coverage. In his current role, he is the Managing Director for Bank ABC Islamic, Bahrain as well as the Group Head of Islamic Banking for Bank ABC. Mr. Hassan represents Bank ABC Islamic on the board of IIFM.

Mr. Delwar Hossain is based in the Bahrain office of Baker McKenzie and a senior associate in the Firm's Global Banking & Finance Practice Group. His main areas of practice include Islamic finance, project finance, loans & credit facilities, debt capital markets and restructuring & insolvency. Before joining Baker McKenzie, Mr. Hossain was a manager (documentation) with Dubai Islamic Bank and in-house legal counsel with Jeddah based Islamic Development Bank. He specialises in Islamic finance.

Mr. Sadaqat is a seasoned Islamic banking and finance professional with a balanced mix of conventional and Islamic banking exposure spanning over four decades with reputed banks in the UAE. Currently, he is serving Islamic banking passionately as SEVP & Head of Shariah Advisory, Audit, Compliance and Execution at Al Huda-CIBE, UAE and also as “Senior Shariah Consultant” at Al Futooh Consultancy on Islamic Banking, UAE. His diversified experience and Shariah expertise in banking and finance includes; 16 years in Islamic banking industry, mainly with Dubai Islamic Bank and Dar Al Sharia Islamic Finance Consultancy. He holds strong command of the Shariah-compliant execution and operational aspects of Islamic trade finance transactions, corporate/institutional banking, treasury & investment banking, personal finance, agency arrangements; besides being proficient in managing Shariah audit, Islamic financial accounting and implementation of the “AAOIF Shariah Standards & Financial Accounting Standards” in IFI’s, etc.

Mr. Mohamed Omarah is a qualified lawyer and has been practicing law in the banking industry for more than 20 years, during which he advised on a wide array of operations such as project finance, trade finance, asset-backed finance, Islamic finance, capital leasing, derivative transactions, loan syndication and retail banking. In addition, Mohamed has extensive experience in the field of Islamic Finance and is a board member of the International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) since 2015. Mr. Omarah has worked with the Crédit Agricole Group in the Middle East for almost 17 years during which he held various positions in the legal and compliance departments. This wide-ranging legal and compliance experience gives Mohamed a thorough grasp of the business, legal and regulatory environment within the MEA region.

Deepesh Patel is Editor-in-Chief at Trade Finance Global (TFG). In this role, Deepesh leads efforts in developing TFG’s editorial and research strategy in key markets, including the UK, US, Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong. Deepesh regularly chairs and speaks at industry events covering trade, treasury and payments, including The Economist, Reuters, UN, WEF and WTO, as well as industry associations including BAFT, FCI, ICC, ICISA and ITFA. Deepesh hosts the popular ‘Trade Finance Talks’ podcast and TV station, with a combined 300+ episodes and 50k+ followers. He is co-author of ‘Blockchain for Trade: A Reality Check’ and ‘Accelerating Trade Digitalization to Support MSME Financing’ with the ICC and the WTO, alongside other industry research. Deepesh is an advocate for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the industry, founding the Women in Trade, Treasury and Payments initiative in 2019. In addition to his work at TFG, Deepesh is a Strategic Advisor for WOA, and is a Member of the ITFA ESG Committee. He also sits on the Fintech Working Group of the Standardised Trust. Prior to TFG, Deepesh worked at Travelex where he was responsible for the cards business and the Travelex Money app in Brazil, Europe, US and UK. Deepesh is Chair of Governors and co-opted LA Governor of the Wyvern Federation, which has responsibility for 5 primary schools in South London.

Mr. Adam Worrall has over 25 years banking experience in UK, joining FAB in July 2018 as Head of Trade Distribution, having previously been a director of portfolio and capital management at RBS, London. He has over 14 years of experience in trade distribution and capital optimization across both trade finance and corporate loans, utilizing various distribution channels, including insurers, banks and MLAs. Mr. Worrall has been an active mentor of aspiring young professionals within trade finance. Adam holds a degree in Contemporary History and Politics, and a post-graduate diploma in International Relations. Adam is married with a young family.

Geoffrey Wynne is head of Sullivan & Worcester’s London office and also head of its award-winning Trade & Export Finance Group. Geoff is one of the leading trade finance lawyers. He has extensive experience in many aspects of banking and finance, specifically trade, structured trade and commodity finance as well as related legal and compliance issues. He has recently been involved in several initiatives for trade finance in the digital world including ITFA’s digital payment obligations and the ICC Uniform Rules for Digital Trade Transactions (URDTT) where he was co-chair of the Drafting Committee. He has been involved in the drafting of BAFT’s Master Participation Agreements including the use of LIBOR in the BAFT MPAs. Geoff sits on the editorial boards of a number of publications and is a regular contributor and speaker at conferences. Geoff is a member of ITFA’s Market Practices Committee (MPC) and has been assisting with numerous key legal issues relating to trade and export finance. He is also the general editor and contributor to the recently published A Guide to Receivables Finance (3rd Edition) and A Practitioners Guide to Trade and Commodity Finance (2nd Edition). In Chambers UK, 2022 Geoff is ranked a Tier 1 lawyer for Commodities: Trade Finance. He holds a Fellowship award for trade finance from Trade and Forfaiting Review and is recognized in the UK Legal 500’s “Hall of Fame”.