Iqbal Asaria

Iqbal Asaria is special advisor to the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain on business and economic affairs and a tutor on the MCB's leadership development programme. An economist, he was a member of the working party set up by the Governor of The Bank of England to look into issues relating to Islamic housing and finance products in the UK. He is an associate of the Islamic Banking and Finance Institute of Malaysia and member of the City of London's Financial Markets Law Committee. He has spoken at several conferences and symposia on Islamic banking and finance. He was awarded the CBE in the 2005 Queen's Honours List for services to international development. In the late 1980s, he was the editor-in-chief of Afkar, a ground-breaking news and analysis journal published in London.

He is a key member of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) holding various roles including:

• Special Advisor on Business & Economic Affairs to the Secretary General of the MCB [2005–present]
• Representative on Working Party set up by Governor of Bank of England to look into issues relating to launching of Islamic Housing *Finance and other products in the UK [2002–Present]
• Chairman, Business and Economics Committee

He is also a leading figure in Islamic finance: a regular speaker at conferences, seminars and training workshops and the author of several articles on Islamic finance. Advisory roles have included:

• Advisor on Islamic Home Finance and other Shariah compliant products for HSBC Amanah
• Advisor on Islamic Financial products to the Lloyds TSB Group
• Consultant to Scottish Widows Investment Partnership's (SWIP) Global Equity Shariah Fund
• Consultant to The Children's Mutual (TCM) on their Shariah Baby Bond – a Shariah compliant Child Trust Fund Product

Mr Asaria is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. He is a graduate of Victoria University, Manchester where he also completed his graduate degree. He was awarded the CBE in the 2005 Queen's Honours List for services to international development.

Queen's Honours List

M Iqbal Asaria was appointed a CBE in the Queen's New Year Honours List (2005) for services to International Development.

An economist by training, Iqbal has had several years' experience in this field. For many years he was an associate of the Third World Network (TWN). In this capacity he served on the Non Aligned Movement's Expert Group on Debt. He was also the TWN's representative on the World Bank NGO Committee. He served as the chairman of the World Bank NGO Committee for three years.

As Chair of the MCB's Business and Economics Committee, Iqbal was appointed to the Department for International Development's (DFID) Development Awareness Working Group (DAWG). This initiative was responsible for initiating the DFID's "Faith & Development" programme. Iqbal drafted the MCB and Muslim Charities booklet on the 2015 Millennium Development Goals.

Current Works

Presently, Iqbal is working on furthering the faith communities engagement in development and the achievement of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals. He is a trustee of SICM/Mahfil Ali, and is currently heavily involved in the development of The Salaam Centre in North Harrow ^[1]

Iqbal is also a member of the Governor of Bank of England's Working Group on facilitating the introduction of Islamic Financial Products in the UK market. Following upon the initiative of the Working Group the UK market has now seen the introduction of Islamic Home Finance products and the granting of a license to the Islamic Bank of Britain.

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