Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA – 4 February 2025 – The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) has appointed Abdullah Haron as Deputy Secretary-General, effective 4 February 2025. A highly respected financial expert, Abdullah brings over three decades of experience in financial regulation, risk management and Islamic finance, with a career spanning the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Central Bank of the UAE, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the IFSB.
As a Senior Financial Sector Expert at the IMF, Abdullah managed technical assistance initiatives and oversaw the implementation of Financial Sector Stability Reviews (FSSR) follow-up for selected member countries. He participated in the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), Article IV surveillance, and played a key role in shaping the IMF’s approach to Islamic banking activities.
Prior to the IMF, he was a Reviewer in the Banking Supervision Department at the Central Bank of the UAE, where he helped establish the Higher Sharī’ah Authority and integrate Islamic finance into the national prudential framework.
Abdullah previously served as Assistant Secretary-General at the IFSB from 2003 to 2013. As one of the founding team’s leaders, he was instrumental in developing the IFSB’s pioneering regulatory standards and leading key initiatives in global Islamic finance regulation.
His career began at BNM in 1991, followed by leadership roles in market risk management in other banks including Maybank, Standard Chartered Malaysia, and the Arab-Malaysian Merchant Bank in Malaysia.
Abdullah holds an MBA from Ohio University and a Bachelor’s degree Liberal Arts and Science (Actuarial Science) from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
For more information on the IFSB, visit www.ifsb.org.
