Abdukader Thomas
Group President & CEO
Based in Kuwait, Abdulkader has over 40 years of diversified financial services experience in major markets including Bahrain, New York, London, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. His areas of activity have included trade finance, real estate finance, securities, and alternative finance at various global and regional financial institutions.
As the general manager of a foreign bank branch in New York, he was responsible for securing the first US banking regulatory approvals of alternative financial instruments in the mortgage and installment credit/sale as banking instruments. Later as the founding member of a de novo bank project, he secured US regulatory approval for Islamic profit sharing deposits. He is an authority on Islamic deal structures and securities.
Along with his team at SHAPE, Abdulkader works on projects that include launching de novo Islamic banks and Islamic banking windows, policies and procedures including Shariah policies, Shariah compliance, product development and structuring. Clients include a diversified universe of financial institutions from North America, the MENA region, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Europe.
He is the co-author of Structuring Islamic Finance Transactions (Euromoney 2005), Islamic Bonds (Euromoney 2004), Sukuk (Sweet & Maxwell 2009), and Managing Funds Flow Risks and Derivatives: Applications in Islamic Institutions (Sweet & Maxwell 2012) and Housing the Nation (Cagamas 2013). Abdulkader served as a technical expert on the Shariah boards of Bank Muscat Meethaq (Oman). He chairs the committee at Sterling Client (Nigeria) and consults for University Islamic Financial (USA). He also serves as an independent director of Alkhabeer Capital in Jeddah. He was previously chairman and director of Sanabel Investment Co. (formerly Alkhabeer International) in Bahrain. He has acted as a member of the international advisory board of the Securities Commission of Malaysia. Abdulkader speaks English, Arabic, French and Spanish.
Shabnam Mokhtar
Group Executive VP
Shabnam spearheads research and development activities at SHAPE. Some of the projects that she managed include:
Review and enhancement of Fatwa on Credit Guarantee Scheme delivered by a Scandinavian development fund in Somalia;
Research for a bankruptcy case in the US and a criminal case in Canada related to Islamic Finance Service providers;
Analysis of Islamic ETF and Islamic structured product to develop an Islamic hedge fund product for a hedge fund manager based in GCC;
Review and enhancement of Fatwa on Carbon Trading for a global energy trading firm’s London operation.
Shabnam also manages strategic and business plan formulation for launching of Islamic businesses and delivers customized trainings for clients covering full spectrum of Islamic Finance activities.
With a global clientele experience, Shabnam brings implementation knowledge taking into account the business context, regulation and Shariah views in different markets.
Shabnam serves as the Shariah Committee member for RHB Islamic Bank.