Farmida Bi listed in Financial News Most Influential Women in European Finance 2020

Norton Rose Fulbright’s Chair of Europe, Middle East and Asia, Farmida Bi, CBE, has been recognised as one of Financial News 100 Most Influential Women in European Finance 2020. This is the second consecutive year that Farmida has been included in this list. 

The list features female executives driving change across Europe’s financial services industry. Farmida was recognised for being a strong advocate of diversity. In the past year, she has used her role as Chair to initiate programmes to promote the inclusion of women and minorities, including community outreach and internal mentoring. She also leads a group of senior BAME lawyers from leading City firms and banks, which formed in January this year. 

She is a partner sponsor and steering group member for the firm’s Women in Norton Rose Fulbright network (WiN), a Pride Ally for the firm’s Pride network and a steering group member of Compass, a faith network supporting and educating Muslims and non-Muslims. Farmida is also the firm’s European Head of Islamic Finance. She has more than 20 years of experience in capital markets and Islamic finance transactions, advising on English and New York law. Farmida acts for arrangers, dealers, issuers and trustees on a wide range of debt instruments, including project bonds, debt programmes, high-yield bonds, private placements and Islamic bond issuances. She has worked on a number of ground-breaking transactions in the sector. 

A leading individual for Islamic finance and for debt capital markets in Legal 500 UK 2020, Farmida commented:

“To be included in this list for the second consecutive year with such a range of prestigious women across the sector is a real honour. I remain committed to driving cultural change in business and at Norton Rose Fulbright, where we are dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace.”

Earlier this month, Farmida was awarded a CBE for services to law and charity. In September, she was included in the HERoes 100 Women Executives list (2019, 2020).