Mujtaba Khalid, Islamic finance thought leader, joins XTCC Advisory Team

London, UAE, 8th July – XTCC, the pioneer in exchange-listed, high-integrity carbon credit investment assets, is pleased to announce that Mujtaba Khalid, a thought leader and influencer in global Islamic finance, has joined its advisory team.

A highly experienced finance professional who has worked with governments, education, non-profit and private organisations in the UK, Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, Mujtaba is recognised as one of the top 500 industry leaders driving the global Islamic economy and brings a wealth of experience to XTCC.

Mujtaba is co-founder of Bagh-e, a specialist app (part of Harvard Innovation Labs) created to address financial inclusion and low farm yields among small-scale farmers with the longer term goal of becoming the world’s first Shariah-compliant digital agriculture bank, Mujtaba was previously Head of the Islamic Finance Centre at the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF).

The Islamic Finance Center (IFC) is one of the world’s oldest professional qualification providers in Islamic Finance; in his leadership role, Mujtaba’s role encompassed government and private sector advisory, establishing effective governance frameworks, for Islamic capital market products and conducting Islamic finance training and capacity building programmes. Specifically, Mujtaba launched the world’s first education-linked NFTs and held the first-ever Islamic finance seminar in the Metaverse and grew the IFC’s global footprint with new projects in Europe, Central Asia, Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East.

Mujtaba also worked for the UK-based Islamic Finance Council where he was involved in developing Islamic finance governance frameworks for central bank bodies, conducting research for the Scottish government on the viability of Sukuks to fund alternative energy projects, structuring Islamic finance products for one of the UK’s largest credit unions and providing investment strategy for Islamic Relief International’s Waqf (trust) fund.

Scott Levy said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to benefit from Mujtaba’s extensive knowledge and direct experience of bringing together Islamic finance and climate change initiatives. He is an eminent and welcome addition to the prestigious team of advisors globally that inform and support our continuing innovation in the delivery of quality investment assets linked to high integrity carbon credits”.

Mujtaba Khalid added: “I’m excited to be joining XTCC in an advisory role and very much looking forward to contributing to their efforts to make a meaningful impact to Net Zero goals through the creation of investment opportunities – including Shariah-compliant assets – associated with vetted, validated high-integrity carbon credit projects around the world.  I will be part of an impressive lineup of expert advisors supporting XTCC’s growing presence and influence on the global Net Zero stage.”

Mujtaba has a BSc (Hons) from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he was an Edward Mason Fellow. He also holds several professional Islamic finance qualifications, including the CIMA Islamic Finance Diploma, the Islamic Banking and Finance qualification from the State Bank of Pakistan, and the CIFP from INCEIF, based in Malaysia.