Abdullah AlSaif is one of the pioneers of Islamic banking having started his career in 1979 at Kuwait Finance House in Kuwait. He spent more than 18 years at the bank helping build it up to the second largest Islamic bank in the world. Few in the industry share his expertise in starting and building Islamic financial institutions across the Gulf countries.

In 1997, Abdullah was among the founding executive management team brought onboard to establish Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, which today is among the leading Islamic banks in the region. In 1999, he was hired by Gulf Investment House of Kuwait to setup and run Osoul Leasing & Finance Co., a consumer finance company where he also served as its CEO.

He also helped establish and manage Wethaq Takaful Insurance (Kuwait), Wared Leasing and Finance Co. , and QAF Holding Co. (Jafza) where he also served as CEO. Abdullah has also advised conventional banks on converting into Islamic banks. In 2003, he advised Kuwait Real Estate Bank in its conversion into an Islamic bank under the supervision of the Central Bank of Kuwait and he served as Advisor then he become General Manager , The bank was later renamed Kuwait International Bank. In 2008, he advised Ahli United Bank of Kuwait on a similar conversion process. In 2017 he advised Kuwait Finance House as a similar conversion process to convert AUB traditional Banks after the Acquisition .

Abdullah has served on numerous boards of financial institutions across the Gulf, including the Credit Rating & Collection Co. (Kuwait), The Investor for Securities (Saudi Arabia), and Wethaq Takaful Insurance to name a few. Abdullah received a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Jones College in Florida in 1977.