The inaugural Responsible Finance Summit entitled “Unlocking Finance Expanding Impact” was organised by Middle East Global Advisors (MEGA) and took place over two days on 30 and 31 March 2016 at Bank Negara Malaysia’s Sasana Kijang Conference Auditorium in Kuala Lumpur.
The keynote addresses on Day One were given by Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor, Bank Negara Malaysia and Georg Kell, Vice Chairman, Arabesque Partners and Founder & former Executive Director, UN Global Compact. HRH Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II, Emir of Kano, Nigeria delivered the keynote speech on Day Two of the Summit.
DDCAP Managing Director, Stella Cox, moderated the session on ‘The impact of leadership and policy in developing responsible finance – finding role models for growth’ with contributions from other panellists including Zainal Izlan Zainal Abidin, Executive Director, Islamic Capital Market, Securities Commission Malaysia, Omar Khan, Director of Strategy & Development, Crescent Wealth; Jessica Robinson, Head of Asia (ex-Japan), Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and Emily Chew, Vice President & Asia Pacific ESG Research Lead, MSCI.
This event marked a continuation of the initiative embarked upon by the Responsible Finance Institute (“RFI”) to explore potential convergence of Sharia’a compliant standards with those of the socially responsible investment (“SRI”) sector.
Trustees of the RFI, many of whom spoke at the Summit in Kuala Lumpur include Stella Cox, MD of DDCAP. Hasan Al Jabri and Tiraad Al-Masoud who are CEOs, respectively, of SEDCO and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. Other Trustees of the RFI are Abdullah Al Awar, CEO of Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre, Brandon Davies Board director of Shariah Supply Chain Finance Limited, Daud Vicary Abdullah, CEO of INCEIF, Dr. Daud Bakar, CEO Amanie Advisors, Omar Selim, CEO of Arabesque, Prof. Datuk Dr. Mohd Azmi Omar Director General of IRTI, Professor Datuk Rifaat Ahmed Abdelkarim, CEO of IILM, Rafe Haneef, CEO of CIMB in Malaysia, Sarah Marten, Dr. Syed Farook, Advisor to the Executive Office of HH Sheikh Mohammed Al Makhtoum, and Sultan Choudhury CEO and Director Al Rayan Bank Plc.
Above the Board of Trustees, the RFI Advisory Board includes Professor Simon Archer, Visiting Professor ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, Professor Datuk Rifaat Ahmed Abdel Karim, HRH Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II Emir of Kano, Nigeria and Tan Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia. Blake Goud serves as the RFI’s CEO.