Iqbal Khan

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.