Brugnoni, Alberto G

(Managing Director, ASSAIF, Kabul, Afghanistan) Alberto G Brugnoni, a former director with Merrill Lynch, is the Founder and Managing Partner of ASSAIF, the oldest European consultancy on Islamic finance. In the mid-1980s, he pioneered Islamic transactions in Europe, and in Sept 1986 attended the 1st US Conference on Islamic Finance convened in Washington, DC by the World Bank. In 1997, he released “Pilot Project Genoardo”, a seminal study for the establishment of a Mediterranean Development Bank based on Shari‘a principles. In 2004-2007, he conceived and managed on behalf of the European Commission ‘New Life Styles’ a pan-European project for ethical finance. This was followed in 2006 by the 1st real estate Islamic financing in Italy and a project for the rehabilitation of Syrian landfills. In September 2011, he structured and executed the debut syndicated Islamic facility in the Russian Federation that was named “Europe Deal of the Year”. Subsequently, he has launched the Takaful industry in Afghanistan and worked in Palestine to develop Islamic modes of financing to ease access to home ownership. At present, he resides in Kabul with the remit to draw and implement a nationwide and comprehensive strategy to expand the access to Shari‘a-compliant financial services across rural regions of Afghanistan.