Shaher Abbas

Dr. Shaher is the founder and CEO of IFIN Services, the first of it's kind Islmaic fintech platform. He is also the co-founder of the IFAAS group. He is an AAOIFI Certified Shariah Advisor and Auditor (CSAA), a CISI accredited trainer for IFQ (Islamic Finance Qualification) and holds a PhD in Islamic financial engineering from Durham University (UK) and a Master's degree in Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance from Loughborough University in the UK. Shaher has more than 18 years of hands-on experience in Shariah Compliance and Product Development across different disciplines of Islamic Finance, extensive experience in Shariah audit covering over 15 different Islamic financial institutions and has designed, developed and launched over 150 Islamic financial products in Europe, GCC and Africa. He has also conducted several feasibility and marker research studies. His technical expertise has been internationally acclaimed within the Islamic financial industry and well respected amongst the leading Shariah scholars of the industry. Endorsed for his innovation when he won the ‘Ethical Finance Innovation Challenge Award’ at the Global Islamic Economy Summit in Dubai 2013. Being a leading figure of the Islamic finance industry, Shaher is a popular speaker and lecturer at industry events and prestigious universities including Durham University (UK), Aston University (UK) and ESC Lille (France). Shaher has advised a number of governmental bodies on Islamic finance related issues, including the Central Bank of Oman and the UK Government when he was a member of HM Treasury’s Islamic Finance Tax Technical Working Group. He was also a member of Hawkamah’s Task Force on Corporate Governance of Islamic Financial Institutions (Dubai). He is a native Arabic speaker with excellent command in English.