Industry specialists debate impact of global financial crisis on Islamic finance

Notes and media contacts

1.UK Trade & Investment is the UK Government's international business development organisation, supporting businesses seeking to establish in the UK and helping UK companies grow internationally. The services offered by UK Trade & Investment bring together a network of business sector specialists and support teams in British embassies and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) posts all around the world, as well as key experts in government departments across the UK. UK Trade & Investment works with a wide range of partner organisations in the UK, including Regional Development Agencies and the Devolved Administrations, Business Links, Chambers of Commerce and trade associations.

2.For further information on the UK as the leading global financial services centre and the single most internationally focused financial marketplace in the world go to www.theCityUK.com.

3.The 15th World Islamic Banking Conference in Bahrain (23-25 November) provides an excellent opportunity for UK and Islamic finance representatives to continue building strong partnerships that will create genuine, global opportunities for the long term development of this growing market.

4.The UK Pavilion, hosted by UK Trade Investment, including exhibits from ABC International Bank plcBank of London & the Middle East, Braxxon, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), DDCAP, Freshfields Brackhaus Deringer, GSH UK, HSBC Amanah, Islamic Finance Advisory and Assurance Services (IFAAS), International Financial Services, London (IFSL), Islamic Bank of Britain, KPMG, Locate Birmingham, London Stock Exchange, Norton Rose, Securities and Investment Institute and Simmons & Simmons.

5.Speaker profiles:

Darko Hajdukovic
Darko Hajdukovic is responsible for the primary market offering for international companies at the London Stock Exchange. Darko joined the Exchange in 2007 as Debt Product Manager looking after Exchange's offering for fixed income securities.

Before joining the Exchange, Darko was an independent consultant specialising in financial regulation and regulatory economics. His previous engagements include working for the EU Commission and DLA Piper, where he worked on various projects assessing the effectiveness of the EU regulation and its impact on the economic development of the EU member states. He also acted as a consultant in several privatisations in Central and Eastern Europe. Darko is a member of the Royal Economic Society.

Khalifa A Al Hajeri
Khalifa A Al Hajeri has had over 25 years experience in financial services. He joined HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, Bahrain in 1982. His career started in the main office in Manama where he spent time in Trade Services and Guarantee, Credit Administration and Retail Banking.

In 1988, he was appointed as Manager Credit Control Unit handling both corporate and retail sectors. In 1994, he has moved to Corporate Banking as Account Relationship Manger and 2001 was promoted to a Senior Relationship Manager/Team Leader to handle large corporate relationships. In May07 he was appointed as Deputy Head of Corporate Banking.

In February 2008 was appointed as Head of Amanah. His main responsibility is to establish Amanah Islamic Banking in Bahrain and during the last 8 months, he worked closely with the Sharia Team and in April 2008, HSBC Bank Bahrain Middle East Limited, Bahrain licensed to operate Amanah Islamic Banking.

Neil Miller
Neil D Miller is the Global Head of Norton Rose Group's Islamic Finance Practice and is based in London.

Neil is a leading specialist in Islamic Finance in the UK and is a member of the Islamic Finance Experts Group (advisers to the Government) and a known commentator on the subject.

Neil ran the Norton Rose Group Bahrain office from 1997 to 2000 and on his return to London he established their Islamic Finance practice. His practice focuses on all types of Islamic financial products and covers a wide range of asset classes, investment and industrial sectors. In recent years much of his work has related to a wide variety of different financial products that have been developed for use in financing the acquisition, development and investment in real estate on a Shariah-compliant basis. Neil's clients include HSBC, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, ABN AMRO, Deutsche Bank and the Islamic Bank of Britain as well as a wide range of Middle East-based institutions among them Dubai Islamic Bank, Kuwait Finance House and Arab Banking Corporation.

Humphrey Percy
Humphrey Percy joined BLME in August 2006 as Chief Executive Officer. Humphrey has more than 30 years of banking experience focusing on treasury and global markets and during his career to date has worked at J. Henry Schroder Wagg, Barclays Merchant Bank, Barclays de Zoete Wedd and West LB where he held positions including CEO, Managing Director, General Manager, and Head of Global Financial Markets. Humphrey is experienced in building new functions and product areas, and has managed start up businesses within both BZW and West LB as well as founding his own business in 2002.

Darshan Bijur
Darshan joined KPMG in India where he advised a number of corporates, project finance and property companies on debt raising, restructuring and financings across the debt product range. He has also been involved in advising clients on mergers and acquisitions and on entering new markets.

Darshan moved to the UK in 2000 and was part of the KPMG Global Financial Advisory Services leadership team and then the Global Private Equity team and was responsible for managing global client coverage and relationship management of KPMG's largest clients across the world.

Darshan moved to the KPMG Corporate Finance Team in 2005 from when he has specialised in Islamic Finance. He has assisted Islamic financial institutions on establishing themselves in the UK and on acquisitions in Europe. He has assisted a number of Islamic investment funds and sovereign wealth funds in their global acquisitions and financings. He has also advised Islamic Banks and Funds on raising capital through Sukuk and in the syndicated bank market.