El-Tahir, Hatim

Manager Training, Dubai International Financial Exchange, United Arab Emirates Hatim Tahir is head of training at the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) Academy, Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX). He develops the Academy’s strategy for professional competency-based training and education in financial markets. He also assists the DIFX in business and product development, and research relating to conventional and Islamic capital markets to support the launch of various markets within the Exchange. Before joining the DIFX he was head of Islamic banking and finance at the Emirates Institute for Banking (EIBFS) and prior to that headed the Finance Department, Faculty of Business Administration, Ajman University. He also spent over ten years as a financial consultant advising Arab entrepreneurs investing in the United Kingdom. Tahir has many years experience in the operations and regulation of Islamic financial markets, including securities regulation expertise in the GCC capital markets. He was instrumental in developing capital markets education in the GCC and Malaysia, an initiative led by the NASD (now INFRA), University of Reading, and INCEIF. Tahir holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of London, and was a research associate at the London School of Economics (LSE) from 1995 to 2001.