Iqbal Khan, the founding CEO of HSBC Amanah, is one of the most powerful and successful financiers in the Gulf region. He is also a board member of HSBC Bank Middle East, HSBC Investment Bank in Saudi Arabia and Saudi British Bank.
Born in India in 1957, Khan grew up near New Delhi and studied at Aligarh Muslim University in the late 1970s, where he obtained a BSc with Honours in physics and chemistry and an MA in political science and international relations. He later obtained an advance management qualification from Insead in Europe.
Khan’s career in finance began in conventional banking in the early 1980s. In 1986, he was appointed vice-president and Middle East regional director for Dean Witter Capital Markets International. In 1989, he became managing director and CEO at the Bridge Corporation.
A step into the burgeoning Islamic finance industry came in 1993, when Khan moved to Bahrain to take up the posts of general manager and CEO of IICG and a member of the DMI Management Group. In January 1998, he became managing director of Citi-Islamic Investment Bank and global head for Islamic finance at Citibank.
He was not long at Citi, however, before being approached by HSBC to start its Islamic unit, launched in 1998. Under Khan, HSBC Amanah has generated impressive growth, innovative product development and notable international expansion. He has also built up a strong Islamic finance team that has won client and industry respect worldwide.
On top of an impressive career, Khan is known for his desire to promote the industry as a means of providing Muslims with a shariah-compliant way of running their finances. He has acknowledged the determination of former Bank of England governor Eddie George to introduce Islamic finance into the UK’s financial system, which allowed HSBC to expand its shariah-compliant financial services and products in Britain, as well as other markets such as the US.
Khan is also involved in the Harvard Islamic Finance Information Program; the IDB’s Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit; the Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority, Malaysia; and the UK’s Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance. He is also a trustee of the London Muslim Centre.
