Manama: Shaikh Ebrahim Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Chairman of Board of Trustees of Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), announced the appointment of Dr. Hamed Hassan Merah as the new Secretary General of AAOIFI.
“On behalf of AAOIFI and its Board of Trustees, we are very pleased to welcome Dr. Merah to his new position as AAOIFI’s
Secretary General. We are very confident that he will steer AAOIFI towards greater accomplishment and success in fulfilling its role, discharging its responsibilities, and enhancing its global positioning,” Shaikh Ebrahim Al Khalifa, said.
Dr. Merah, a Saudi national, possesses broad experience in Islamic commercial banks, investment banks, and insurance companies, through technical and Shari’a roles including in senior management capacity. In addition, he has also been involved in academia as an assistant professor with responsibilities for post graduate studies.
Dr. Merah holds Doctorate and Masters degrees from The Higher Judicial Institute in Riyadh, with thesis relating to “Sukuk al-Ijarah” and “Emerging Financing Products in the Islamic Banks”.
He also holds a number of professional qualifications, amongst others, pertaining to financial markets, insurance, governance, and compliance.
He has carried out consultancy projects for a number of companies, governmental agencies and research centers As well as participated in drafting Islamic finance laws and regulations for a number of jurisdictions. He has also authored and published two books and a collection of research papers. In addition, he has delivered specialized training courses and workshops as well as key presentations at regional and international forums, symposiums and conferences.
Dr. Merah said he was grateful for the trust that had been placed on him through his appointment as the new Secretary General of AAOIFI.
“This appointment also carries with it substantial responsibilities that I am honoured to shoulder. I seek guidance from Allah to help me carry out and discharge the responsibilities properly and successfully. I also look forward to working closely with AAOIFI Board of Trustees, Shari’a Board,
Accounting and Auditing Standards Boards, our institutional members, and all other Islamic finance industry stakeholders, in carrying out our activities to develop and issue high quality standards in line with international best practices, and to achieve global reach and adoption of the standards. These will support increasing harmonisation and standardisation of international Islamic finance practices and contribute towards further development of the industry.”
AAOIFI, established in 1991 and based in Bahrain, is the leading international not-for-profit organisation primarily responsible for development and issuance of standards for the global Islamic finance industry. It has issued a total of 88 standards in the areas of Shari’a, accounting, auditing, ethics and governance for international Islamic finance. It is supported by over 200 institutional members, including central banks and regulatory authorities, financial institutions, accounting and auditing firms, and legal firms, from over 45 countries.
Its standards are currently followed by all the leading Islamic financial institutions across the world and have introduced a progressive degree of harmonisation of international Islamic finance practices.