Mohyedin Saleh Kamel, left, receives The Royal Award for Islamic Finance on behalf of his father Saleh Kamel in the presence of Securities Commission Malaysia chairwoman Zarinah Anwar, second left, Crown Prince of Perak Raja Nazrin Shah, third right, Sultan of Kedah Tuanku Haji Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah Ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, second right, and Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, in Kuala Lumpur on Monday. (AN photo)
Published: Oct 26, 2010 22:59 Updated: Oct 26, 2010 23:18
The award was presented in a ceremony Kuala Lumpur in the presence of Sultan of Kedah Tuanku Alhaj Abdul Halim, and his consort Tuanku Sultanah Hajjah Haminah, Raja Nazrin Shah, the crown prince of the state of Perak and ambassador at large of the MIFC Initiative, Tun Musa Hitam, former deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Zeti Akhtar Aziz, governor of Bank Negara Malaysia and Zarinah Anwar, chairman of the Securities Commission of Malaysia.
Kamel could not attend the ceremony in person but sent a video message thanking the Royal Award Jury chaired by Tun Musa Hitam and the Malaysian government for honoring him with the prestigious award. The award was accepted on his behalf by his son Moyhiddin Saleh Kamel.
Saleh Kamel has been a pioneer of contemporary Islamic finance since the 1970s following the convening by the then King Faisal of Saudi Arabia of an extraordinary meeting of OIC foreign ministers which led to the establishment of the Islamic Development Bank in 1975. Saleh Kamel initially worked with Prince Muhammed Al-Faisal, the son of King Faisal, the other pioneer of Islamic finance.
But in the early 1980s the two parted company to set up their own entities in Islamic finance.
Through his Dallah Albaraka Group, Saleh Kamel started his Islamic banking group through the Albaraka Development Company. The group launched Islamic banking subsidiaries in Turkey, South Africa, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, the United Kingdom, Tunisia, Algeria and investments in entities in Malaysia.
Much later these entities were incorporated under a new holding company, the Albaraka Banking Group (ABG), which is incorporated in Bahrain and is effectively the banking investment arm of the Dallah Albaraka group.
The group has also been a pioneer of Takaful and Retakaful through its Tunisian entity BEST Re.
Saleh Kamel has long been an advocate of institutionalizing Zakat to unleash its full potential for the benefit of Muslim communities the world over. He also pioneered the annual Albaraka Shariah Scholars Symposium on Islamic Finance which is being held in Makkah.
More recently he has been promoting the idea of a mega-Islamic bank, which has now been taken on by the Islamic Development Bank.
During his career, Kamel had his ups and downs.
The proposed merger between ABG and The International Investor of Kuwait failed to materialize which resulted initially involved litigation but was eventually settled out of court.
At the same time, he was forced to surrender the license of Albaraka International Bank in London following disagreements with the Bank of England over the structure of the ownership of the bank.
Ironically Albaraka never owned an Islamic bank in Malaysia. At best they had minority stakes in Bank Islam, Southern Bank and indirectly in RHB Islamic Bank.
At times Kamel came across as a maverick. At one stage he became so disillusioned with the lack of progress in the Islamic finance sector that he said that if he had to start again he would never set up an Islamic bank.
Perhaps with a tinge of a u-turn, the jury also decided to award a posthumous Royal Award for Islamic Finance to the late Ahmed Al-Naggar, one of the intellectual pioneers of Islamic finance. He was part of a small Egyptian intellectual and Shariah scholars group which included the late Zaki Badawi, Mohammed Abu Saud, Gamal Attiyah, Sheikh Mohammed Khater and Sheikh Al-Qaradawih who spearheaded the Islamic finance movement in countries such as Malaysia, Luxembourg, the UK, Dubai, Bahrain and Jordan.
Al-Naggar’s highly belated recognition is symptomatic of an Islamic finance industry that tends to reward and acknowledge Islamic bankers.
In this respect the Royal Award for Islamic Finance should be commended for bringing substance back to the due recognition of those who deserve such accolades.
Source : http://arabnews.com/economy/article171014.ece - Oct 26, 2010
Kamel could not attend the ceremony in person but sent a video message thanking the Royal Award Jury chaired by Tun Musa Hitam and the Malaysian government for honoring him with the prestigious award. The award was accepted on his behalf by his son Moyhiddin Saleh Kamel.
Saleh Kamel has been a pioneer of contemporary Islamic finance since the 1970s following the convening by the then King Faisal of Saudi Arabia of an extraordinary meeting of OIC foreign ministers which led to the establishment of the Islamic Development Bank in 1975. Saleh Kamel initially worked with Prince Muhammed Al-Faisal, the son of King Faisal, the other pioneer of Islamic finance.
But in the early 1980s the two parted company to set up their own entities in Islamic finance.
Through his Dallah Albaraka Group, Saleh Kamel started his Islamic banking group through the Albaraka Development Company. The group launched Islamic banking subsidiaries in Turkey, South Africa, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, the United Kingdom, Tunisia, Algeria and investments in entities in Malaysia.
Much later these entities were incorporated under a new holding company, the Albaraka Banking Group (ABG), which is incorporated in Bahrain and is effectively the banking investment arm of the Dallah Albaraka group.
The group has also been a pioneer of Takaful and Retakaful through its Tunisian entity BEST Re.
Saleh Kamel has long been an advocate of institutionalizing Zakat to unleash its full potential for the benefit of Muslim communities the world over. He also pioneered the annual Albaraka Shariah Scholars Symposium on Islamic Finance which is being held in Makkah.
More recently he has been promoting the idea of a mega-Islamic bank, which has now been taken on by the Islamic Development Bank.
During his career, Kamel had his ups and downs.
The proposed merger between ABG and The International Investor of Kuwait failed to materialize which resulted initially involved litigation but was eventually settled out of court.
At the same time, he was forced to surrender the license of Albaraka International Bank in London following disagreements with the Bank of England over the structure of the ownership of the bank.
Ironically Albaraka never owned an Islamic bank in Malaysia. At best they had minority stakes in Bank Islam, Southern Bank and indirectly in RHB Islamic Bank.
At times Kamel came across as a maverick. At one stage he became so disillusioned with the lack of progress in the Islamic finance sector that he said that if he had to start again he would never set up an Islamic bank.
Perhaps with a tinge of a u-turn, the jury also decided to award a posthumous Royal Award for Islamic Finance to the late Ahmed Al-Naggar, one of the intellectual pioneers of Islamic finance. He was part of a small Egyptian intellectual and Shariah scholars group which included the late Zaki Badawi, Mohammed Abu Saud, Gamal Attiyah, Sheikh Mohammed Khater and Sheikh Al-Qaradawih who spearheaded the Islamic finance movement in countries such as Malaysia, Luxembourg, the UK, Dubai, Bahrain and Jordan.
Al-Naggar’s highly belated recognition is symptomatic of an Islamic finance industry that tends to reward and acknowledge Islamic bankers.
In this respect the Royal Award for Islamic Finance should be commended for bringing substance back to the due recognition of those who deserve such accolades.
Source : http://arabnews.com/economy/article171014.ece - Oct 26, 2010
