MasterCard has announced that it has appointed Safdar Khan to lead its growing Islamic payments business in Southeast Asia with immediate effect.

Mr. Khan, who is currently country manager for Malaysia and Brunei, will also be promoted to the role of group country manager for Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. He will continue to be based in Kuala Lumpur, where he will focus on driving growth across the cluster as the countries increase their connectivity ahead of the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.

While he was country manager for Malaysia and Brunei, Mr. Khan made great progress in strengthening relationships with key financial institutions and merchants. Playing a crucial role in establishing MasterCard’s dominance in Islamic payments, Mr. Khan spearheaded the launch of the Tabung Haji Debit-i MasterCard, the world’s first non-banking Islamic debit card, while significantly increasing engagement with key industry stakeholders.

Commenting on Mr. Khan’s new roles, Matthew Driver, President, Southeast Asia, said, “We’re confident that Safdar, in his expanded role will provide the leadership and direction to drive the uptake of our innovative and comprehensive Sharia-compliant payments solutions across the region. There is a huge opportunity in the Muslim lifestyle segment in Southeast Asia and it is MasterCard’s commitment to ensure we offer safe, simple and smart payments solutions for this significant market. ”

Mr. Khan joined MasterCard in 2006 as vice president, Global Account, South Asia, Middle East and Africa, where he was responsible for very successfully managing the relationship with key global clients. Prior to his role as country manager for Malaysia and Brunei, Mr. Khan was area head, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, and was instrumental in expanding MasterCard’s business in those countries.