Abdussalam holds a Masters Degree in Islamic Banking, Finance and Management from University of Gloucestershire - United Kingdom, a Post-graduate Diploma in Islamic Studies-International Languages and a Post-graduate Diploma in Comparative Jurisprudence from AlFateh Islamic Institute - Syria and a Bachelor’s Degree in Arabic Language and Islamic Studies from Islamic Mission College - Syria.
Currently, he works for Group Islamic Banking, CIMB Investment Bank Berhad as Associate of Product Management - Wholesale Banking (Corporate Banking, Treasury & Market products - Asset & Liability)*. January 2011 – April 2014, he had worked for Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad. He joined the Bank’s Product Development Department (Corporate, Commercial and Consumer Banking products - Asset & Liability) as Assistant Manager–“Grade 10” of Product Research and Advisory Section. In July 2012, he was rotated from the Section to Product Innovation and Development Section due to his capability to conduct end-to-end product development processes. In January 2013, he then got promoted to Assistant Manager-“Grade 11”.
*Current portfolio - Treasury related products & solutions include deposit, investment account, money market, structured product, fixed income, equity linked investment, interbank lending/borrowing, commodity murabahah, derivative linked investment, dual currency investment, collateralized commodity murabahah, repo, Foreign Exchange (FX), FX forward, FX Option, structured FX forward/option, profit rate swap, cross currency profit rate swap and derivatives instruments.
His key roles and responsibilities are/were (1) to conduct end-to-end product development processes with global business units which include conducting Shariah and applied research, structuring and developing new products, re-engineering and enhancing existing products, preparing product proposal papers and obtaining approvals from internal committees and external regulators, drafting and reviewing legal documentations, operational policies and procedures, business and system requirements; (2) to provide business deals advisory to the business units on products offering in relation to product structures, product features, legal documents, term sheets, sale pitches, ongoing issues; (3) to ensure compliance of the products with Shariah requirements and internal/external policies and guidelines in coordination with Shariah Advisory, Shariah Compliance & Review, Shariah Risk, and Shariah Audit departments; and (4) to conduct regular product training and briefing sessions for relationship managers and sales/business/support units on related products and services.
Having Islamic Banking, Finance & Management, Shariah and Arabic background and experience in end-to-end product development/management of Islamic banking & finance products (Wholesale/Retail Banking), he is able to play dual function, Product Development/Management as well as Shariah Compliance.