Paul McNamara

Paul is one of the best known Islamic finance journalists around and was one of the founders of CPI Financial, a Dubai-based media company. For four years he edited and contributed to Islamic Business & Finance magazine.

Before that Paul was in London with Euromoney Institutional Investor where he published books on a range of subjects - including Islamic finance, capital markets and derivatives. Paul also launched and published Islamic Finance Weekly for Euromoney.

Prior to that Paul was publisher of Asia-Inc magazine in Singapore and Brunei for two years. Before that he worked in Australia for eight years at Fairfax Business and prior to that worked for the Financial Times in London for nine years. Paul has a BA Honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Christ Church, Oxford.

Majid Dawood

Majid is an experienced financial services professional. He has been a key individual in the establishment of Yasaar Limited, the first Shariah compliance services company. Majid’s role as chief executive of Yasaar is to offer, together with Yasaar Limited’s Board of Shariah scholars, global cost-effective Shariah assistance to financial institutions. Yasaar does this by reviewing financial product structures and advising and supporting financial institutions in the amendments that may be required in order to achieve Shariah compliance.

Majid is a director of BRR Investments, set up in the early 1980s with shareholders including Robert Fleming and the International Finance Corporation, who are the managers of the first and largest Islamic leasing company in Pakistan. Prior to setting up Yasaar, Majid held the position of country representative for Credit Lyonnais Securities (Asia) Ltd as well as capital markets consultant to Credit Lyonnais and Jardine Fleming, advising on privatisation and capital market issues.

Majid is a well known and much sought after speaker on Islamic finance and Shariah, having presented on these topics globally as well as having written numerous articles for industry journals. In 2004, Majid was presented the Deloitte & Touche award for the most innovative Islamic finance product for the Caravan 1 Sukuk. Under his leadership and guidance in December 2007 Yasaar was voted ‘The Best Islamic Finance Advisory Firm’ by the readers of Islamic Business & Finance magazine. Majid holds a BA (Economics) from the University of Massachusetts.