Any investigation into Islamic finance will lead you
to Iqbal Khan. Everybody in this fast-growing sector insists
you must meet the man who has headed the Islamic finance
operations of two global banking giants - Citigroup and HSBC
- and who was a driving force behind the first Islamic global
bond earlier this year.
Getting time with the CEO of HSBC's global Islamic
finance arm is a challenge, though. The well-groomed and
smooth-talking Khan seemed to have a third of the people at
last month's Islamic finance conference in Malaysia hanging
around him, another third looking for him, and the last third
moving on having met him.
"The office here said I would not have time to meet you," says
Khan in as friendly a way as possible, "but our PR manager in Dubai
told me I had to."
Now based in...
