IslamicFinance.de

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) hosted the first UAE-Luxembourg Council for Islamic Finance Cooperation meeting in Dubai yesterday. The meeting was attended by a number of prominent economic and financial institutions from both countries. UAE members of the council include MoF , the Central Bank, UAE University, Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre, World Trade Center Abu Dhabi, Dubai Chamber, Etihad Airways, Al Hilal Bank, Sharjah Islamic Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. Luxembourg's representativesinclude the Ministry of Finance, Luxembourg Bankers' Association, Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry and the University of Luxembourg.

L'Etat du Sénégal a été retenu par un jury composé de banquiers, de journalistes, de professeurs d’universités, de spécialistes de la Finance islamique, à l'issue d'une table ronde, mi-janvier 2015 à Kuala Lumpur, en Malaisie. La réunion de janvier dernier en Malaisie vient de décerner un satisfecit à l'Etat du Sénégal. Après son émission obligataire islamique sur le marché international d'un montant de 100 milliards de f CFA (premier du genre au sud du Sahara), menée par la BIS (Banque islamique du Sénégal) et arrangée par Citibank Dubaï et ICD, la signature du portefeuille de l'Etat prend ainsi de la voilure auprès des investisseurs et prêteurs "halal".

Why an Islamic Finance training programme?

The Islamic banking and finance (IBF) sector has experienced substantial and unprecedented growth in recent years: growing at a rate of 10-15% per year. Today, more than 500 IBF institutions are operating worldwide, which are claimed to manage assets worth no less than $1.2 trillion, while the assets held in IBF institutions were only less than $10 billion in 1985. In Malaysia the IBF institutions are planned to capture the 25% of the market share, in terms of assets owned, by 2012, while it is expected that Islamic finance will be the mainstream finance in the Gulf region in the next decade.

Such immense growth has brought Islamic finance to the attention of the international banking and finance community, prompting the major banks to set up Islamic financial windows to take advantage of demand for Shari'ah compliant finance.

The International Islamic Banking and Finance Law Conference took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 4-5, 2015. The conference hosted many high profile speakers including the CEO of CIMB Islamic Bank, Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, who stressed the point that everyone now working in Islamic finance should make a strong effort to learn or further develop their skills in Shari’ah. Camille Paldi, FAAIF CEO, noted that it is imperative for the Islamic Finance industry to develop a unique dispute resolution system tailored for Islamic finance. In addition, Paldi suggests that it might be wise to form a global Islamic finance bankruptcy court to handle the world’s sukuk defaults.

The date for the Kazan Sukuk Conference has been shifted to Thursday, April 9, 2015. The location of the conference will remain the same, the 5-star Mirage Hotel in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. This change was made according to the desire of participants and speakers of the Conference. The Conference brings together over 100 representatives of the Russian government, regulators, business entities and international sukuk market players to discuss sukuk structures and their application, jurisdictions and platforms for sukuk issuances, investment projects and underlying asset pools, regulation and Sharia issues. To get more information about the event please visit: www.kazansukuk.ru.

For the second time after the 2013 edition, Tunisia has been chosen to host the World Social Forum. The forum will be held from March 24 to March 28 at the Farhat-Hached university campus in the capital Tunis. The organizational committee for the 2015 forum, under the head of Tunisia's social and economic rights forum, Abderrahmane Hedhili, said that civil society would be mobilized for the event as it was in 2013.

The theme of the 12th IFSB Summit underscores the recognition that while there are significant benefits to Islamic finance from the processes of growth and international integration that is underway, there are corresponding challenges in building up the regulatory, supervisory and surveillance capabilities in order to contain vulnerability to cross border volatility and contagion. In particular, many regulatory authorities involved in the regulation and supervision of the Islamic financial services industry face challenges in identifying the applicable principles and benchmarks for assessing the gaps in their existing structures.

The share of national income going to wages across industrialized countries has fallen from over 66 per cent in the early Eighties to around 61 per cent, according to the OECD. Globally, the decline is even sharper – from 62.5 per cent in 1980 to 54 per cent in 2010, according to the United Nations. Rising pay inequalities at the same time as a falling wage share mean even less of the rewards of growth go to the working people who create them. The World Economic Forum itself has at least finally put deepening income inequality at the top of its list of global concerns. The world economy is wage led, and if the wages increase, then the greater spending power boosts growth.

A call for a 'Marshall Plan' in the Arab world was made at the start of the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos. One speaker outlined his idea to have a fund to invest in large and small economic projects across the Arab world. The investment would come from Arab sources. There's tons of capital in the area, he said. Several other attendees agreed that such a fund can go ahead without the political stability. However, there are also dangers in the region, like having no change for decades and suddenly dramatic change. The long tradition of strong men and weak states has led to the hollowing out of the nation state and these issues are now coming to the fall.

Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) will hold the 14th edition of its Annual Shari'a Conference on 22 and 23 March 2015 in Manama, Bahrain. The conference will be held under the auspices of the Central Bank of Bahrain. Discussions will include on topics relating to application of Shari'a to international Islamic finance products, services and practices as well as continuing innovation of Islamic finance to support further growth and expansion of the industry. Following the conference, AAOIFI will hold training sessions for its Certified Shari'a Adviser and Auditor (CSAA) and Certified Islamic Professional Accountant (CIPA) qualification programs from 24 to 27 March 2015.

Bahrain-based General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) are planning a joint meeting in Bahrain next month aimed at discussing issues of internationalisation of Islamic financial services. The roundtable meeting of the directors of operations and investment of Islamic banks, themed 'Internationalisation Strategies of Islamic Financial Institutions', will be held on February 23 and 24. Through the meeting, the council expects to increase awareness and information sharing about the CIBAFI Strategic Plan 2015-2018.

NCB Capital has sponsored a new fully equipped lab at Effat University in Jeddah as part of its commitment to spread financial literacy among Saudi Youth. The lab comprises of 25 computer machines and includes hardware and software which help students to monitor financial markets and train them on making sound investments. Sarah Al-Suhaimi, CEO of NCB Capital, said that education sector is a key part of NCB Capital’s corporate social responsibility activities. By sponsoring this initiative, NCB aims to forge a collaborative relationship with Effat University in order to support financial knowledge among the students, and to also introduce them to the world of investment, she added.

GCC Board Directors Institute ("BDI") released insights that Board composition and selection were identified as key priorities in the corporate governance choices faced by GCC businesses, as highlighted during the Institute's Foundations of Directorship Workshop held in partnership with Investcorp on 7-9 Dec 2014 in Bahrain. BDI's Foundations of Directorship workshop is hands-on and experiential where participants are presented with contemporary issues and challenges that boards in the GCC are faced with. The workshop held by BDI in Bahrain this week, was in partnership with Investcorp , a founding member of BDI.

The ‘Arab Knowledge Report 2014: Youth and Localization of Knowledge’ was launched in Dubai on Wednesday, the second day of the First Knowledge Conference. To meet increasing social and economic development challenges, Arab countries must integrate better in today’s global knowledge economy. Their most effective route toward that end is investment in empowering the full and active engagement of their youth in processes of knowledge generation, transfer and localization, the report says. The report applauded the UAE’s efforts to build the capacities of its human capital, particularly its youth.

The Capital Market Authority (CMA), represented by the Oman Centre for Corporate Governance and Sustainability, in cooperation with the Pearl Initiative, organised a seminar on 'Governance of Family Businesses and the Separation of Ownership from Management and Succession Planning'. The seminar was aimed at airing the views of those present and fostering dialogue among the representatives of the family businesses, business experts and specialists in this regard. Speakers underlined the importance of accountability and transparency in the family and state-owned companies that seek to successfully achieve permanence and continuity.

The World Social Forum (WSF) will hold its next global gathering in March 2015 in Tunis. Since 2001, the forums took place annually around the same dates as the World Economic Forum in Davos. Organized every two years since 2007, the event has now become somewhat less visible. Some of the reasons for the frustration with the WSF are related to dilemmas of representation. For the activists that reject representation as a political principle, the forums have been too embedded in traditional politics. For those who want to build global political parties, the WSF’s open space has lacked the capacity for action. These are some of the questions that need to be debated on the road to the next WSF in Tunis.

Over 150 young leaders, innovators, thought leaders and decision makers representing over 30 countries participated in the annual two-day Shape MENA conference which was held December 3-4 at the Qatar National Convention Centre. This year’s Shape MENA event addressed the theme of “Economic Growth and Job Creation in the MENA Region,” and over the course of two days participants examined such issues as the changing nature of work, current and future workplace skills gaps, technology and philanthropy, Islamic finance, and social entrepreneurship. Shape MENA 2014 was supported by a number of local organizations.

The sixth World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), which recently concluded in Qatar’s capital city of Doha, tackled a number of education issues on a global level. In recent years, WISE has launched a series of on-going initiatives, including the Learners’ Voice Program. It is designed to equip young people aged 18 to 25 with the relevant soft skills, tools, and know-how to address global education issues. This year, 34 young men and women were chosen from hundreds of promising applicants to take part in the 2014-2015 Learners’ Voice Program , launched at WISE 2014 with a series of workshops.

The Adam Smith Business School will host an international conference, themed “The Role and Contribution of Islamic Accounting, Finance, Economics, and Management in Contemporary society” at the University of Glasgow, UK, on 7-9 April 2015. This two-day conference will provide opportunities for participants to present their current research on the Islamic perspective of accounting, finance, economics & management as well as to build their collaboration network with other delegates. The deadline for abstract submission is 31st December 2014. For more information about the conference, please check the website: http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/business/newsandevents/headline_351155_en.html

Turkey's Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (MÜSiAD) is organizing the 15th MÜS?AD International Fair "High Tech Port by MÜSIAD" themed "The World is Changeable: Change the Business, Change the World," and the 18th International Business Forum (IBF) Congress which will be held from November 26-30 at Istanbul's CNR Expo Center. IDB's President Dr. Ahmed Mohammad Ali will deliver a speech in the opening session of the IBF and the keynote speech will be delivered by Mushtak Parker, editor of the Islamic Banker Magazine . This year, the events will be enriched with the remarks of ministers and the input of academics, public authorities and experts.