# Humayon Dar

Humayon Dar is a scholar and practitioner in the field of Islamic banking and finance, and currently serving as the Director General of the Cambridge Institute of Islamic Finance. He has held academic and professional positions, including Director General of the Islamic Research & Training Institute (IRTI) at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). Dar is also the chairman of the Cambridge-Edbiz Group of Companies, which includes Edbiz Consulting and Cambridge IFA. He has been a member of several Sharia advisory boards, including those of Arabesque Asset Management, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, and Hong Leong Islamic Bank Malaysia.
He served as managing director at Deutsche Bank and CEO of its Islamic finance subsidiary, and has also been a visiting Professor for Islamic Finance at universities in the UK, Malaysia and the Middle East.
Although not a classically trained Islamic scholar, he has undergone training in the Islamic sciences, such as Quranic hermeneutics. His academic influences include Muhammad Umer Chapra, Khurshid Ahmad, Anas Zarka, Nejatullah Siddiqi, and Abdul Rahman Yousri.

## Education and personal life

Dar was born in Gakkhar Mandi on the Pakistani side of the Punjab province. After completing his secondary school education in his hometown, Dar attended Government College Lahore (now University Government College Lahore) for two years before being admitted to the International Islamic University, Islamabad in 1986.
Dar holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and Master of Science (both in Islamic Economics) from the International Islamic University (IIU), as well as an MPhil and PhD (both in Economics) from Cambridge University.

## Professional life

Dar co-founded (with John Presley) an MSc program in Islamic economics, banking & finance at Loughborough University. He also assisted the Bayes Business School (formerly Cass Business School) at City St George's, University of London in creating and offering an Executive MBA in Islamic Finance. He held a Visiting Professor position in Islamic Finance at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), and was an adjunct professor in Islamic Finance at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Lahore (Pakistan).
In 2005, he joined Dar Al Istithmar, a joint venture between Deutsche Bank, the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies and Russell Wood, which was created to provide advice on offering financial products compliant with Islamic law. Deutsche Bank organized seminars on Islamic finance throughout the Middle East in 2005, and Humayon Dar became an opinion-maker in the global Islamic financial services industry. In March 2006, Dar was named managing director of Dar Al Istithmar and a managing director at Deutsche Bank. Under Dar's leadership, Dar Al Istithmar was recognized by Euromoney with the "Best Islamic Advisory & Assurance" award, for both 2006 and 2007.
In 2007, the Dar Al Istithmar team was absorbed by the BMB Group, the Eastern-focused investment and advisory group led by Rayo Withanage, and the resulting company was renamed BMB Islamic. Dar was appointed as its CEO. In 2008, BMB Islamic was accepted as a member of the Bahrain-based Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions. In March 2011, he founded Edbiz Consulting Limited. In September 2012, Dar launched Edbiz Corporation as a holding company for all the businesses he has developed and serves as its chairman. In 2014, following the success of his previous ventures, he founded Cambridge IFA, a company specializing in Islamic financial innovation.
In addition to his advocacy of Islamic banking and finance, Dar sits on several Sharia Advisory Boards, including those of Allianz Global Investors (Luxembourg), Hong Leong Islamic Bank (Malaysia), Hong Leong Tokio Takaful Marine (Malaysia), Halal Industries Group (UK), Arabesque Asset Management, Omarco, and Nasdaq OMX. Through his Shari'a advisory role with Nasdaq OMX, he helped develop Nasdaq 100 Sharia and OMX 30 Sharia indices.
Dar co-edited a book on "Sharia and Legal Aspects of Islamic Finance". Dar is also the founding editor of Global Islamic Finance Report, an annual publication reporting on developments in the Islamic financial services industry worldwide. Global Islamic Finance Report 2012, released in March 2012, focuses on Islamic philanthropy and social responsibility and was recognized at Global Donor Forum 2012 as the best research publication on the topic. Nazrin Shah, then Crown Prince of the State of Perak (Malaysia) and now Sultan of Perak, presented the Best Research & Publication in Islamic Philanthropy Award to Professor Humayon Dar on 28 April 2012, at the Global Donor Forum held in Kuala Lumpur. GIFR has since become an annual publication in Islamic banking and finance.
In 2009, Humayon Dar founded the Islamic Finance Access Programme (IFAP), which provides Islamic financial education to individuals and institutions. In 2011, Dar's consultancy firm, Edbiz Consulting, launched a quarterly magazine, ISFIRE (Islamic Finance Review), which focuses on analyses of emerging trends in Islamic banking and finance. In 2011, Dar also established the Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA). The first GIFA ceremony was held in December 2011 in Muscat, Oman, where H.E. Tun Abdullah Bin Haji Ahmad Badawi, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, received the "Global Islamic Finance Leadership Award." The second ceremony took place on 19 November 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where HRH Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah, the Regent of the State of Perak, was awarded the "Global Islamic Finance Leadership Award." The third ceremony was held on 26 November 2013 in Dubai, where HE Shaukat Aziz, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, received the "Global Islamic Finance Leadership Award for 2013." The fourth GIFA ceremony was hosted in Dubai on 26–27 October 2014, where HE Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, received the "Global Islamic Finance Leadership Award," with Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, as a witness. The fifth GIFA ceremony took place in Bahrain on 28 October 2015, where HRH Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II (the current Emir of Kano) received the "Global Islamic Finance Leadership Award", and was honored as the fifth GIFA Laureate.

## Works

* Sharia and Legal Aspects of Islamic Finance 2009. co-edited with Umar Moghul, (Chancellor Publications, London (UK))

## Publications

* The Chancellor Guide to the Legal and Shari'a Aspects of Islamic Finance (2012) – Co-authored with Umar F. Moghul and others, this book provides insights into the intersection of Islamic finance and legal frameworks.
* Global Islamic Financial Report 2016: Islamic Financial Policy (2016) – Co-authored with Sofiza Azmi and others, this report explores policies shaping the Islamic financial sector.
* Islam and Economic Development (Elgar Mini Series) – Examines the relationship between Islam and economic progress.
* An Introduction to the UK Economy: Britain in the World Marketplace (2008) – Co-authored with Colin Harbury and Richard G. Lipsey, analyzing the UK economy in a global context.