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Level 1 Devonshire House, 1 Mayfair Place ● London W1J 8AJ ● United Kingdom
+44 20 7268-4872 ● [email protected]
SPEAKERS
Tariq S. Al-Rifai
Tariq Al-Rifai has been involved in banking and finance for over 20 years and is viewed as a leading authority on global and regional (GCC)
macroeconomic trends, Islamic finance and investment products. He has written for publications such as Euromoney and The Harvard
Forum on Islamic Finance and is the author of Islamic Finance and the New Financial System: An Ethical Approach to Preventing Future
Financial Crises, published in 2015.
He is often quoted in print and electronic media, including Bloomberg, Financial Times, Islamic Finance News and Reuters. He also
appears as a frequent guest on CNBC Arabia and Al-Arabiya Business Channel.
Tariq is currently the founder and CEO of Quorum Centre for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank dedicated to protect the
individual, institutional and corporate wealth of the GCC. Prior to this, he served as the Head of Investor Relations and Economic
Research at Kuwait Finance House in Kuwait, one of the largest Islamic financial institutions in the world. He also served as Global
Director of Islamic Indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices (Dubai) and as Vice President of UIB Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm
which managed a $300 million Shariah-compliant investment portfolio.
Previously, Tariq was Vice President of HSBC Bank’s Islamic Finance Program in New York. In 1996, Tariq founded Failaka Advisors,
which was the first-ever organization to monitor and publish research on Islamic funds.
Tariq Al-Rifai holds an MBA from DePaul University in Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in international finance from St. Cloud State
University in Minnesota.
Jamal Al Mutawa
Jamal Almutawa is known as a technologist, telecom professional, blockchain expert and entrepreneur.
Jamal is currently investing and promoting the emerging cryptocurrency ecosystem that is already disrupting existing industries and transforming others into more efficient, massively scalable, distributed, robust infrastructures.
His previous position was Director of Business Support Systems / Operations Support Systems at Zain Group. During his 21-year career at Zain, Jamal participated in Zain's growth from the region's first mobile operator in Kuwait to a leading mobile and data services operator with a commercial footprint in 8 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Jamal has been active in the telecom, IT, strategy and the business development side of Zain during his tenure there.
Jamal has vast experience in both mobile telecom and IT, and is an authority in technologies that overlap or converge there, such as smartphones, cloud computing, OSS, BSS, M2M and blockchain.
Jamal AlMutawa graduated from Kuwait University in 1987 as an Electrical Engineer.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamal-al-mutawa-3424709/
Level 1 Devonshire House, 1 Mayfair Place ● London W1J 8AJ ● United Kingdom +44 20 7268-4872 ● [email protected]
Quorum Centre for
Strategic Studies
Centre Profile 2018
THE FIRST THINK TANK DEDICATED TO PROTECTING GCC WEALTH CENTRE OVERVIEW
ABOUT
Quorum Centre for Strategic Studies Limited (the “Centre”) is a private limited company registered in England and Wales on the 3rd of February 2016. It is as a research firm known as a think tank or research institute. The Centre specializes in financial and economic issues affecting the Middle East with an emphasis on financial crisis management. The Centre is dedicated to helping find solutions to global financial problems and develop an understanding of how economies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region are affected by geopolitics.
The overall objectives are to benefit the Centre’s members and the GCC nations.
The Centre is not setup to be a profit-making company, which is similar to the structure of the leading international think tanks in Europe and the U.S. As such, the Centre will offer transparency in its operations and have a board of
trustees and board of advisors to ensure this transparency. Quorum members will also be able to participate in operating and managing the activities of the Centre.
Quorum’s objective is not to make profits for itself, but rather to help its members make profits, protect their wealth and protect the sovereign wealth of GCC nations.
Revenues are generated primarily through annual membership dues and institutional sponsorship. Other sources of revenues include custom research consulting as well as working on joint research projects with other organizations locally and internationally.
TARGET MARKET & CLIENTS
Quorum strongly believes in providing a public service. As such, highlights from the Centre’s research are made public on its website as well as through targeted media campaigns in international and regional media.
‘Clients’ include both members and non-member clients. The target clients (i.e. members) are the global financial services industry, financial regulators, government agencies/ministries, universities, high net-worth individuals, family offices and prominent figures globally.
The goal is to educate and dispel any myths or misconceptions surrounding global finance, expose the flaws and corruption in the financial system and bring forward the dialog on solutions to economic challenges facing the GCC.
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
The Centre will act as a lobbying force for its members on issues in finance and economics that are of importance and concern to them. Research reports will support these efforts. The Centre will also host member-only meetings throughout the year to discuss key issues and select new topics for research. There will also be periodic
QUORUM CENTRE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES LIMITED (REGISTRATION NO. 9985317)
2
one-on-one meetings arranged for Strategic Partners with Global Think Tank VIP guests (power brokers, policy makers, crisis forecasters) visiting the GCC and internationally.
FOCUS AREAS
The Centre is primarily concerned with financial and economic issues that have a direct impact on the GCC, such as:
❖ The effects of falling oil prices on GCC economies
❖ Changes in EU and US financial services regulations and their effects on GCC financial services
❖ Global economic risks and market outlook
❖ Strategies for protecting personal and sovereign wealth
❖ Developing the best policies on privatization and taxation
We monitor these important issues, trends and more, then develop our own forecasts and analysis, which we then publish in our reports. We also take each topic and develop/recommend the best strategies for minimizing losses and maximizing returns for our members.
RECENT REPORTS AND FORECASTS
In June 2016, we released a critical report called “The instability of our financial system, the coming mega-crisis and how to prepare for what lies ahead.” The report discusses why the global economy keeps having financial crises and why each crisis seems to be worse than the previous one. Quorum’s report is forecasting a mega-financial crisis, which will be much worse than the 2008-2009 crisis and will have long-lasting and dramatic effects globally.
Some of Quorum’s other reports and forecasts include:
❖ Oil prices are heading lower for longer than most expect and GCC States must plan their budgets accordingly
❖ Expect a US Dollar in the coming years, which is the opposite of what most forecasters are predicting
❖ GCC banks are safer than EU banks
❖ The new JASTA law and its effects on the GCC banking system
❖ Saudi Vision 2030 and the upcoming Aramco IPO
❖ Our views on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
❖ High debt and poor regulation is pushing China towards a severe financial crisis
QUORUM IN THE MEDIA
Since establishment, the Centre has been very active in the media. Here are recent examples of Quorum’s international media coverage:
QUORUM LEADERSHIP
❖ Tariq Sayid Jamal Al-Rifai, CEO
Advisory Committee:
❖ Abdullah AlSaif, Board member of 5th Pillar Ltd., and former Chairman of Wethaq Takaful Insurance Co.
❖ Nabil Ameen, Vice Chairman and CEO, Al Madar Finance & Investment Co.
❖ Fahed Al-Sumait, Chair of the Mass Communication Department at the Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) and co-author of the book Covering Bin Laden.
❖ Arshad Majid, a former New York prosecutor with expertise in criminal law, terrorism, computer/cyber-crimes, money laundering and financial fraud.
❖ Paul McNamara, author and international journalist specializing in the GCC and Islamic finance.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Please contact Tariq Al-Rifai, CEO on; +965 96999169 in Kuwait +44 7538533750 in UK eMail: [email protected]
Website: www.quorumcentre.com
