IFSB Secretary-General receives IDB Prize for Islamic Banking and Finance
Baku (Azerbaijan), 24 June 2010 – The Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB) awarded Professor Rifaat Ahmed Abdel Karim, Secretary-General of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), the IDB Prize in Islamic Banking and Finance 1431H (2010) during its 35th Annual Meetings in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The aim of the Prize is: “to recognise, reward and encourage any activity of outstanding merits in promoting outstanding works in Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance which are directed towards the realisation of the Islamic values. Such activity may take the form of research, teaching, training, mobilisation of intellectual opinion or any other activity promoting the purpose of the Islamic Research and Training Institute/IDB”.
Professor Rifaat is the 27th individual, and the first Sudanese, to receive this Prize. Established in 1988, the Prize, alternating between Islamic Economics and Islamic Banking and Finance, is awarded annually by the IDB Group.
Professor Rifaat’s contribution to the Islamic financial services industry is exemplary. He is the first Secretary-General of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), a post he has held since the IFSB started to operate in 2003. Under his stewardship, the membership of the IFSB expanded from nine founding members in 2003 to almost 200 members in 2010, from 40 countries. Prior to his current post, he was the first Secretary-General of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions, a post he held of eight years. He has been a member of the Consultative Advisory Group of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board since 2004. He is also a member of the International Liaison Group, Basel Committee for Banking Supervision. He previously served as a member of the Standards Advisory Council of the International Accounting Standards Board, for two consecutive terms, ending November 2008.
Professor Rifaat is a Visiting Professor at the ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK, and is a Member of the Governing Council of the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance, Malaysia. He is the co-author of Business and Accounting Ethics in Islam, Islamic Finance: Innovation and Growth, Islamic Finance: The Regulatory Challenge and Takaful Islamic Insurance: Concepts and Regulatory Issues. He was also the first recipient of the Euromoney Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Islamic Finance Award, and other distinguished awards.
