Global Islamic Finance Awards

Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA) are awards in Islamic banking and finance.^{[citation needed]} GIFA was founded by the consulting firm Edbiz (and currently managed by Cambridge IFA) as part of its advocacy for Islamic banking and finance.

GIFA laureates

Every year, the Awards Committee of GIFA elects a head of state or government (or a leading personality equivalent in stature and significance) as winner of its top award, called Global Islamic Finance Leadership Award. The winner is also known as GIFA Laureate.

Since the inception of GIFA in 2011, it has announced 12 GIFA laureates:

• Abdullah Badawi, Former Prime Minister of Malaysia - 2011
• Sultan Nazrin Shah of the Malaysian State of Perak - 2012
• Shaukat Aziz, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan - 2013
• Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - 2014
• Muhammadu Sanusi II, Emir of Kano, Nigeria - 2015
• Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia - 2016
• Ismail Omar Guilleh, President of the Republic of Djibouti - 2017
• Bakir Izetbegović, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (President of Bosnia-Herzegovina) - 2018
• Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa - 2019
• Arif Alvi, President of Pakistan - 2020
• Ma'ruf Amin, Vice President of Indonesia - 2021
• Abiy Ahmed Ali, Prime Minister of Ethiopia - 2022
• Macky Sall, President of Senegal - 2023

GIFA categories

Top Awards include: [1] Global Islamic Finance Leadership Award (Individual Category); [2] Global Islamic Finance Leadership Award (Country Category); and [3] Global Islamic Finance Leadership Award (Institutional Category). While the first leadership award in this category is awarded annually (see above), the other two categories are discretionary and are decided on the basis of a number of factors, including the choice of venue for the Awards Ceremony. So far, three countries have been honoured with the Country Awards, namely Malaysia (2014), Dubai (2017) and Djibouti (2022). The Institutional Award has so far been bestowed upon Islamic Development Bank (2015), KNEKS (2021) and DDCAP (2022).

Celebratory awards

A number of celebratory awards are decided by the Awards Committee every year to recognise efforts and advocacy of institutions and individuals from outside the global Islamic financial services industry, mainly (but not necessarily) from the public sector.

In 2017, GIFA Championship Awards were introduced to acknowledge services of some leading personalities and entities, which have played the role of a catalyst in their respective jurisdictions. The following three Championship Awards were announced in 2017:

• GIFA Championship Award for the Republic of Tatarstan for its championship role to promote Islamic banking and finance in the Federation of Russia
• GIFA Championship Award for public sector support was presented to Bakhyt Sultanov, Minister of Finance, Republic of Kazakhstan
• GIFA Championship Award for regulatory support was presented to Elvira Nabuillina, Governor of Central Bank of Russia

GIFA Special Awards (Leadership Role) have so far been given to three individuals:

• Yasin Anwar, Governor of State Bank of Pakistan (2011)
• Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (2013)
• Yerlan A. Baidaulet, Advisor on Islamic Finance, Government of Kazakhstan (2015)

GIFA Special Awards (Advocacy Role) have been presented to:

• Zambry Abdul Kadir, Chief Minister of Perak, Malaysia (2014)
• Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Finance Minister of Pakistan (2015)
• Saeed Ahmed, Deputy Governor of State Bank of Pakistan (2016).

In 2017, the following three GIFA Special Awards were announced:

• GIFA Special Award (for Leadership in Takaful) to Wael Al Sharif, CEO of Takaful Emarat
• GIFA Special Award (for Leadership in Islamic Retail Banking) to Kashif Mohammed Naeem, EVP and Head of Retail, SME and Microfinance at Bank of Khartoum
• GIFA Special Award (for Advocacy of Islamic Financial Criminology) to Normah Omar, Director of Accounting Research Institute at Universiti Teknologi MARA

Islamic Finance Advocacy Awards

Islamic Finance Advocacy Awards are presented to the individuals and organisations from within the global Islamic financial services industry. Previous winners of Islamic Finance Advocacy Awards include:

• Linar Yakupov, CEO of Tatarstan Investment Development Agency, the Russian Federation (and a leading advocate of Islamic banking and finance in the CIS countries)(2015)
• Khazanah Nasional Berhad (2016)

GIFA Lifetime Achievement Award

Inaugurated in 2016, GIFA Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an exceptional leader for their lifetime contributions to Islamic banking and finance. The winners include:

• Ma’ruf Amin of Indonesia (2016)
• Yahia Abdul-Rahman, Founder of LARIBA Islamic Finance in the USA (2017)
• Taqi Usmani, Shari'a scholar (2020)

Prestige awards

Only a selected number of individuals are elected to receive the Prestige Awards, which recognise excellence in profession, leadership within an organisation and advocacy of Islamic banking and finance. Following are the main categories in the Prestige Awards:

• Islamic Finance Personality of the Year
• Islamic Banker of the Year
• GIFA CEO of the Year (started in 2016)
• Takaful CEO of the Year (started in 2017)

Category	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Islamic Finance Personality of the Year	Not Awarded	Sohail Jaffer, Deputy CEO of FWU Group	Hasan Al Jabri, CEO of SEDCO Capital	Jamil Jaroudi, CEO of Bank Nizwa	Khaled Al-Aboodi, CEO of ICD	Teh Maimunah, CEO of Hong Leong Islamic Bank	Adnan Ahmed Yousif, Group CEO, Albaraka Banking Group
Islamic Banker of the Year	Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, CEO of CIMB Islamic	Yuslam Fauzi, CEO of Bank Syariah Mandiri	Zukri Samat, CEO of Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad	Adnan Chilwan, CEO of Dubai Islamic Bank	Mustafha Hj Abd Razak, CEO of Bank Rakyat	Fadi Al Faqih, CEO of Bank of Khartoum	Amr Saad Al Menhali, Head of Islamic Banking, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank

Category	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Islamic Finance Personality of the Year	Musa Abdelaziz Mohammad Shihadeh	Khalid Bin Thani Bin Abdullah Al Thani	M Shahidul Islam	Adam Ismail Ebrahim	Mohd Moazzam Mohamed
Islamic Banker of the Year	Khalid Jamal Al Kayed	Eqhwan Mokhzanee	Junaid Ahmed	Irfan Siddiqui	Syed Amir Ali
GIFA CEO of the Year	Abdulmohsen Bin Abdulaziz Al-Fares	Mohammed Ibraheem Khan	Khalid Jamal Al Kayed	Eqhwan Mokhzanee	Eqhwan Mokhzanee
Takaful CEO of the Year					Saifulrizal Wan Ismail

Mohd Fadzmi Wan Othman (CEO of Agrobank, Malaysia) became the first GIFA CEO of the Year in 2016, followed by Jamal Saeed Bin Ghalaita (CEO of Emirate Islamic Bank) in 2017.

Abd Latiff Abu Bakar (CEO of Takaful Ikhlas) became the inaugural Takaful CEO of the Year in 2017.

GIFA Market Leadership Awards

In 2016, the Awards Committee decided to include a new category in the name of GIFA Market Leadership Awards to recognise the leadership role of institutions in particular sub-sectors of the industry. In the two years since their inception, the following institutions have been recognised for leadership in their respective sectors/sub-sectors:

2016

• GIFA Market Leadership Award to Dubai Islamic Bank for developing Islamic banking and finance globally
• GIFA Market Leadership Award to Bank Syariah Mandiri for playing a leadership role in developing Islamic banking market in Indonesia
• GIFA Market Leadership Award to AbleAce Raakin for developing a market for commodity facilitation and support in Asia
• GIFA Market Leadership Award to Islamic Business School, Universiti Utara Malaysia, for providing thought leadership, teaching and research in Islamic banking and finance
• GIFA Market Leadership Award for Islamic financial Technology to ITS
• GIFA Market Leadership Award for Islamic financial intelligence and ratings to Moody's

2017

• GIFA Market Leadership Award to DDCAP Group for commodity facilitation and support globally
• GIFA Market Leadership Award for Islamic asset management to SEDCO Capital
• GIFA Market Leadership Award for Islamic financial intelligence and ratings to Moody's
• GIFA Market Leadership Award for pawnbroking services to Bank Rakyat of Malaysia

Other award winners are given in the table below:

Award Categories	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Best Islamic Bank	National Commercial Bank	CIMB Islamic	Dubai Islamic Bank	Bank Rakyat	Dubai Islamic Bank	Kuwait Finance House	Al Baraka Turk Participation Bank
Best Takaful Company	FWU Global Takaful Solutions	Etiqa Takaful	FWU Global Takaful Solutions	FWU Global Takaful Solutions	Takaful Ikhlas	Takaful Malaysia	Solidarity Saudi Takful Company
Best Islamic Fund	Not Awarded	CIMB Principal Islamic Asset Management (Ireland) plc	F & C Sharia Sustainable Opportunities Fund	NBAD Islamic MENA Growth Fund	Amana Growth Fund	Hilal Income Fund (by BNP Paribas Asset Management Najmah)	Aircraft Leasing Islamic Fund (ALIF)
Best Islamic Fund Manager	CIMB Principal Islamic Asset Management Sdn. Bhd.	SEDCO Capital	AmInvest	AmInvest	SEDCO Capital	Nomura Islamic Asset Management	Nomura Islamic Asset Management
Best Islamic Banking Window	Not Awarded	ADCB Islamic	ADCB Islamic	Bank Alfalah Islamic	Bank Alfalah Islamic	Bank Alfalah Islamic	FNB Islamic Banking
Best Islamic Structured Products Platform	Societe Generale	CIMB Islamic	Societe Generale	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded
Best Islamic Finance Technology Provider	Path Solutions	International Turnkey Systems (ITS)	International Turnkey Systems (ITS)	Path Solutions	Path Solutions	Path Solutions	Path Solutions
Best Islamic Finance Technology Product	ETHIX by ITS	ETHIX by ITS	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	ETHIX by ITS	ETHIX by ITS
Best Islamic Finance Law Firm	Agha & Shamsi/Agha & Co	Zaid Ibrahim & Co (ZICO)	ARSA Lawyers	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Azmi & Associates	Not Awarded
Best Islamic Finance Consultancy	KPMG	KPMG	Not Awarded	Al Maali	Dar Al Sharia	Deloitte & Touche (Middle East)	Karim Consulting Indonesia
Best Supporting Institution of the Year	DDCAP	DDCAP	Finance Accreditation Agency (FAA)	DMCC Tradeflow	IIFM	Indonesia Stock Exchange	Indonesia Stock Exchange
Best Sukuk Deal of the Year	Not Awarded	AJIL Cayman Sukuk – Gulf International Bank	Axiata Group Berhad - CIMB Islamic	Al Bayan Sukuk, Hong Leong Islamic Bank	Al Baraka Bank Pakistan's Tier II Capital Mudaraba Sukuk	Perusahaan Penerbit SBSN Indonesia Sukuk (Republic of Indonesia)	Oman $2 Billion 7-Year Sukuk
Islamic Social Responsibility Award	Not Awarded	Islamic Relief Worldwide	SEDCO Capital Global Funds	SEDCO Capital	Not Awarded	Khazanah Nasional	Khazanah Nasional
Most Innovative Product	Not Awarded	Qibla Card – Al Hilal Bank	Emirati Savings Millionaire Account - ADCB Islamic	Not Awarded	Arabesque Prime Fund	Not Awarded	Not Awarded
Best Islamic Rating Agency	Not Awarded	RAM Rating Services	Not Awarded	MARC	Moody's	MARC	MARC
Best Islamic Microfinance Institution	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia	Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia	Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia	Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia	Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia
Best Shari’a Compliant Commodity Facilitation Platform	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	DDCAP Group	DDCAP Group	DDCAP Group	AbleAceRaakin
Best Islamic Savings Product	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	National Bonds	National Bonds	National Bonds	Not Awarded	Not Awarded
Best Islamic Finance Qualification	Certified Islamic Finance Executive (CIEF) by ETHICA	Certified Qualification in Islamic Finance (CQIF) by IBFIM	Bachelor of Islamic Finance and Banking by UUM	Not Awarded	Diploma in Halal Management by UiTM	Shariah Registered Financial Planner by MFPC	Not Awarded
Best Islamic Finance Education Provider	INCEIF	Durham University	CIMA	Accounting Research Institute, UiTM	Malaysian Financial Planning Council	Not Awarded	Universiti Utara Malaysia
Best Islamic Finance Training Provider	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	IBFIM	The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus	The International Center for Development in Islamic Finance (ICDIF-LPPI)	Not Awarded
Best Research and Development in Islamic Finance	Not Awarded	Asian Institute of Finance	Meezan Bank	Islamic Research and Training Institute, IDB	Islamic Research and Training Institute, IDB	Accounting Research Institute, UiTM	Accounting Research Institute, UiTM[1]
Pioneer of Islamic Banking	Bank Muscat (Oman)	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Bank Muamalat Indonesia	KFH-Bahrain	Bank Muamalat Malaysia	Bank Nizwa
Upcoming Shari’a Scholar	Mufti Talha Azami	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Dr. Zulkifli Hasan	Not Awarded
Shari’a Authenticity Award	Not Awarded	Bank Islami Pakistan	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Meezan Bank	Bank Alfalah Islamic	Meezan Bank
Best Islamic Finance Solutions Provider	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	SAB	Sliverlake Axis	Silverlake Axis
Upcoming Islamic Bank	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Bank Nizwa	Not Awarded	Agrobank	HabibMetro Siraat	East Africa Bank
Best Islamic Finance Case	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Bank Islam and Asian Institute of Finance	Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia	Agrobank	Emirates Airline Sukuk (by Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar)
Best Islamic Exchange	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Bursa Souk Al-Sila, Bursa Malaysia	Bursa Suk Al-Sila, Bursa Malaysia	Bursa Malaysia -i
Best Sukuk House of the Year	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	NBAD	NBAD	AmInvestment Bank
Human Capital Development Initiative Award	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	ADCB Islamic Banking Academy	MIT Global Academy	MIRAS by ICD
Best Wholesale Islamic Bank	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Venture Capital Bank	Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad	Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
Best Shari'a Advisory Firm	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Dar Al Sharia	Amanie Advisors	Amanie Advisors
Best Islamic Trust Formation Services	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	Not Awarded	VOLAW Group	VOLAW Group
Global Islamic Export Credit and Political Risk Insurance Award	Not Awarded

[1] For Global Research Excellence in Islamic Financial Criminology

Upcoming Personalities Awards

Over the years, Upcoming Personalities Awards have increased in number and significance, as the Table below demonstrates.

	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Award Name	Upcoming Personality in Islamic Finance	Upcoming Personality in Islamic Finance	Upcoming Personality in Islamic Finance	Upcoming Personality in Islamic Finance (Leadership Role)	Upcoming Personality in Islamic Finance (Leadership Role)	Upcoming Personality in Global Islamic Finance (Leadership Role)	Upcoming Personality in Global Islamic Finance (Leadership Role)
Winner	Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki	Sofiza Azmi	Moinuddin Malim	Amr Saad Al Menhali	Amman Mohammad	Hizamuddin Jamaluddin	Siraj Yasini
Award Name	*	*	*	Upcoming Personality in Islamic Finance (Pioneering Role)	Upcoming Personality in Islamic Finance (Product Development & Structuring Role)	Upcoming Personality in Global Islamic Finance (Leadership Role in Fund Management)	Upcoming Personality in Global Islamic Finance (Product Development & Solutions)
Winner	*	*	*	Sulaiman Al Harthi	Mohammed Shaheed Khan	Ramlie Kamsari	Othman Abdullah
Award Name	*	*	*	*	*	Upcoming Personality in Islamic Finance (Academic Role)	Upcoming Personality in Islamic Finance (Academic Role)
Winner	*	*	*	*	*	Nafis Alam	Hylmun Izhar
Award Name	*	*	*	*	*	*	Upcoming Personality in Global Islamic Finance (HR & Talent Development)
Winner	*	*	*	*	*	*	Farid Basir
Award Name	*	*	*	*	*	*	Upcoming Personality in Global Islamic Finance (Risk Management)
Winner	*	*	*	*	*	*	Tauhidur Rahman

Occasional categories

In addition to regular categories, every year the Awards Committee may decide to present awards to institutions that do not fall under any other category. The winners so far have been listed in the Table below.

	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Award Name	Most Improved Islamic Bank	*	*	*	Shari'a Lawyer of the Year	Most Improved Islamic Bank	Pioneer of Islamic Banking in Kazakhstan
Winner	ADCB Islamic Banking	*	*	*	Kamran Khalid Sherwani	BNI Syariah	Al Hilal Bank Kazakhstan
Award Name	*	*	*	*	Best Zakat Distribution Programme	Islamic Finance Book of the Year	Best Shari'a-compliant Global Equity Fund
Winner	*	*	*	*	UiTM	Shariah Minds in Islamic Finance	Oasis Crescent Global Equity Fund
Award Name	*	*	*	*	Best Islamic Finance Publishing House	Best Islamic Finance Publishing House	Best Islamic Bank for SME Banking
Winner	*	*	*	*	IBFIM	IBFIM	BTPN Syariah
Award Name	*	*	*	*	Best Research in Islamic Financial Criminology	GIFA Social Innovation Award	Best Islamic Financial Reporting Award
Winner	*	*	*	*	Accounting Research Institute, UiTM	BTPN Syariah	Islamic Reporting Initiative (IRI)
Award Name	*	*	*	*	Best Research & Publications Award	Best Social Media Campaign Award	GIFA Advocacy Award (Islamic Financial Ordination)
Winner	*	*	*	*	Hamdan Bin Mohammed Samrt University	Bank Syariah Bukopin	S&P Global
Award Name	*	*	*	*	*	GIFA Financial Inclusion Award	GIFA Special Award (Micropayments and Diginital Technology)
Winner	*	*	*	*	*	Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) Syariah	AIM Solutions
Award Name	*	*	*	*	*	Best Islamic Bank for Treasury Management	Pioneer in Philanthropic Programmes in H. E. Institutions
Winner	*	*	*	*	*	Albaraka Islamic Bank Bahrain	ACIS, UiTM
Award Name	*	*	*	*	*	Pioneering Islamic Financial Education Initiative	Pioneer of Islamic Banking (Kazakhstan)
Winner	*	*	*	*	*	First Global Academy	Al Hilal Bank Kazakhstan
Award Name	*	*	*	*	*	Islamic Financial Literacy and Education Award	Most Innovative Islamic Bank
Winner	*	*	*	*	*	Pahang State Foundation	Bank of Khartoum
Award Name	*	*	*	*	*	Halal Industry Development Award	*
Winner	*	*	*	*	*	Halal Industry Development Corporation	*
Award Name	*	*	*	*	*	Best Islamic Crowdfunding Platform	*
Winner	*	*	*	*	*	ETHISCROWD.COM	*
Award Name	*	*	*	*	*	Best Retakaful Institution	*
Winner	*	*	*	*	*	Reasuransi Syariah Indonesia (ReINDO Syariah)	*
Award Name	*	*	*	*	*	Best Islamic Pawnbroking Services Award	*
Winner	*	*	*	*	*	Bank Rakyat Malaysia	*

See also

• List of religion-related awards