President and Chief Executive Officer, INCEIF University

Professor Emeritus Dato’ Dr Mohd Azmi Omar is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of INCEIF University, the Global University of Islamic Finance. Prior to his current position, he held the post of the Director-General, Islamic Research and Training Institute, IRTI (now known as the IsDB Institute), Islamic Development Bank Group, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

At IRTI, Prof. Azmi pioneered and introduced innovative policy research that culminated in flagship reports, such as the IRTI Islamic Social Finance Report and the IDB-World Bank Global Report on Islamic Finance. Azmi also extended technical assistance and advice on Islamic finance to several Islamic Development Bank member countries.

Prof. Azmi serves as the President of the International Council of Islamic Finance Educators (ICIFE), President of the International Association for Islamic Economics (IAIE), a member of the Islamic Development Bank President International Advisory Panel, Advisor to the RFI Foundation, and formerly a member of the External Advisory Group for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Interdepartmental Working Committee on Islamic Finance. Concurrently, Prof. Azmi is a Shariah committee member at Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad, Etiqa Takaful Malaysia, and MUFG Bank (Malaysia) Berhad and formerly a member of the Shariah Advisory Council at the Securities Commission Malaysia. He is also a board member of Apex Securities Berhad. Given his vast experience, he was appointed as an Islamic Finance Expert to the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank from 2018 to 2020. Recent consulting projects led by Prof. Azmi include the development of the Indonesia Shari’ah (Islamic) Economy Masterplan 2019–2024 for the government of Indonesia and the Kazakhstan Islamic Finance Masterplan 2020–2025 for the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) and the Republic of Kazakhstan. He was awarded “The Most Outstanding Individual Contribution to Islamic Finance” in the KLIFF Islamic Finance Awards 2015 and the “Lifetime Achievement Award in Islamic Economics and Finance” at the 3rd World Islamic Economics and Finance Conference in Pakistan in 2020. Prof. Azmi holds a PhD in Finance and a Fellow of Chartered Professional in Islamic Finance.