IslamicFinance.de

“Islamic finance has weathered the storm. One of the world’s fastest growing asset classes before the financial crisis hit in August 2007 continues to expand”.

This headline in the Financial Times on 13 December 2010 emphasizes the growing significance of Islamic finance.

The School of Management and Law and its Center for International Business

welcome you to the annual

ISLAMIC FINANCE AND BUSINESS DAY 2011

19.05.2011

At:

Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW

Building SM

Room: SM O1.01

Theaterstrasse 15c

8400 Winterthur

Dr. Ghaith bin Mubarak al-Kuwari, HE Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, started an exhibition for Arabic calligraphy (Al-Jood Exhibition) by the internationally renowned artist Sabah Arbili, at the Cultural Village (Katara).
The organisers are: Qatar Islamic Cultural Centre (Fanar), Reach Out to Asia (Rota) and the management of the Qatar First Investment Bank.

For three days in April social entrepreneurs including designers, businesspersons, humanitarians and investors were gathered in Oxford, England at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship and its more discursive 'un-conference' the Oxford Jam.
An important part of the session was focused on securing investment to start and scale social enterprises.
Also, Tom Hume introduced IDEOs 3 principles to create large-scale innovation:
1) Build on existing user behavior.
2) Scale up by going where people already congregate.
3) Prototype early

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 23, 2011 – The Muslim Philanthropy Award winners were announced at the 4th annual banquet of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists in Dubai, UAE.

Every year, the Muslim Philanthropy Award honors an individual, a grantmaking institution and a corporation for their distinguished contribution to the field of philanthropy.

The Muslim Philanthropy Awards for 2011 were awarded to H.R.H. Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud (Personality) for demonstrating outstanding civic and charitable responsibility; Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Arabia (Grantmaker) for showing long-standing commitment to economic empowerment, human dignity, and institutional building; and Abraaj Capital, UAE (Corporation) for demonstrating longstanding leadership in advancing strategic philanthropy, creativity in responding to societal problems, and having significant positive impact on corporate giving in MENA region.

HSBC Amanah Shariah wants to allocate USD 2.12 million through PT Permodalan Nasional Madani (PNM) for the development of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
The funds from HSBC to MSMEs will be chanelled through its Shariah-based microfinance branches.

“1001 Inventions: Muslim Heritage in Our World,”, an exhibition that opened up in December 2010 in New York Hall of Science showed the influence stretched from China to Spain for hundreds of centuries.
“1001 Inventions” is a global educational initiative. The aim of this is to promote awareness of a thousand years of scientific and cultural achievements from Muslim civilization from the 7th century onwards.
The original creators of this initiative are: Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, FSTC, a British based non-profit, non-religious and academic organization.

CIPE and the Global Corporate Governance Forum published a new guidebook with an accompanying video named Advancing Corporate Governance in the Middle East and North Africa: Stories and Solutions. The purpose is to help bussiness reach a better situation. They speak about self-dealing, lack of accountability and rampant corruption.

They try to proove that it is a good solution to incorporate sound corporate governance practices that assure that proper mechanisms are in place to preserve the core principles of fairness, accountability, responsibility and transparency.

Qatar Exchange (QE) along with the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) in conjunction with The Qatar Institute of Directors (QID) is organising a Conference on Corporate Governance for Family-Owned Companies at the Doha Sheraton Hotel.
The conference will be opened by Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, Chairman of the QCCI, and will have reputed speakers from Qatar, Gulf and the Middle East. The list of speakers includes prominent figures like Dr Talal Abu-Ghazaleh who will speak of his personal experience the guiding criteria of good governance around the world.

Sustainable investment, socially-responsible investment (SRI) and environmental, social, governance (ESG) approaches have been interesting topics in the funds industry for a very long time.
A number of studies have confirmed that investors are struggling to make informed decisions as they attempt to build a coherent sustainable investment strategy.
Nevertheless, the European investment industry has tried in the recent past to attract fresh money by launching new active managed sustainability funds in emerging markets or linked to hot topics like green energy. There are also new exchange traded funds (ETFs) which track indices based on sustainable or ethical selection criteria.

The Quarterly Bulletin of Malaysian Islamic Capital Market by the Securities Commission Malaysia is online; it features thoughts of Professor Volker Nienhaus on Regulations and Shariah in the aftermath of the crisis and contains further market updates.

Sarajevo Business Forum aims at reviving the culture of open dialogue among statesmen and international figures from various countries, as well as presenting Bosnia & Herzegovina and its region to international investors.

The Forum will comprise of two parts. Under its first part, the Forum will present a meeting point for a selected group of statesmen where they will exchange views on the issues related to the civilization dialogue in general, and peace and prosperity in Southeastern Europe in particular.

Under its second compact, Sarajevo Business Forum will be a forum between local businesses, government and international investors aiming at attracting international capital to the country and to the region, which in turn will be instrumental in enhancing economic prosperity and thus peace.

Sarajevo Business Forum thus aims at erasing the remnants of sad recent history of the country and making it once more a center for open interaction between cultures and businesses.

http://www.sarajevobusinessforum.com/en/conference/

Alberto Brugnoni, ASSAIF, will moderate the Session on 'Finance and philanthropy' at the “4th World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists - Defining the Roadmap for the Next Decade” that will convene at the Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai on March 23-24, 2011

Muslim Philanthropy is at a crossroad, challenged to build new models of giving while simultaneously refining old methods embedded in vibrant Islamic tradition. The foremost challenge in the field is to promote strategic and accountable philanthropy that complements and enhances the generations-old conventional charity, which is often personal and spontaneous

The Session will examine within a common framework the failure of zakat to achieve most of its socio-economic objectives, the stagnation of waqf institutions in performing their designated social functions and the growing divergence between the aspirations of Islamic economics and the realities of the Islamic finance industry. It will also offer actionable programme plans for zakat and innovative ways of using the institution of waqf to establish social enterprises, as possible common solutions

After appointing boards of directors of electricity distribution companies, the federal government has decided to transfer their assets to the managements in order to give autonomy to state-run units.
A summary for sale of 10 per cent shares of the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) through stock markets will also be presented in the next meeting of the board of directors of the exchange, in order to move towards self-reliance and avert being a burden on public funds.

EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ISLAMIC ECONOMICS AND FINANCE

SUSTAINABLE GROWTH AND INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FROM AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Doha, Qatar - December 25-27, 2011

CALL FOR PAPERS

The global economy continues to face the perennial problems of poverty, persistent youth unemployment, excessive inequalities of income and wealth, high levels of inflation, large macroeconomic and budgetary imbalances, exorbitant debt-servicing burdens, inadequate and aging public utilities and infrastructure, skyrocketing energy prices, and growing food insecurity. The reoccurring regional and global financial crises further intensify and magnify these problems particularly for the underprivileged segments of the world population. As a result, many countries are at the risk of failing to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations. However, some countries also present optimistic experiences to share, and from which useful lessons can be drawn for shaping the future economic scene in other countries.

Afghanistan's central bank expects an Islamic banking law to be enacted by September, drawing billions in deposits from citizens wary of the conventional banking system.
The central bank's sharia board will meet Sunday to finalize the law.
Of 17 banks in Afghanistan, six have Islamic banking windows. The central bank hopes to approve the creation of fully fledged Islamic banks after the law is passed.

Appeal No. 146 of 2010 by Parsoli Corporation Ltd dismissed on Jan. 12 by the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The Appeal was against a ruling by SEBI that Parsoli and its promoters/directors violated several provisions of the regulations and perpetrated “fraud of the worst kind on the shareholders of this company who were deprived of their shares and when caught, the directors compensated the shareholders by crediting shares in their demat accounts through off market transactions.”

The annual convening of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, widely recognized as the premier forum on Muslim Philanthropy worldwide, welcomes social investors, grant-makers, government and business leaders, visionaries, and civil society executives to a solicitation-free collaborative environment.

The 4th World Congress will initiate a dialogue around the potential roadmap for Muslim Giving in the next decade. This discussion will be enriched by the collective wisdom and experience of leading philanthropists and intellectuals from around the world. The forum will also examine challenges unique to Muslim societies, and offer options for managing them.

Update 17th Feb 2011:

The organizers of the 4th World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists regret to announce the change of meeting venue due to circumstances beyond their control. This unpredicted situation came about in response to the directives we received today from the Moroccan authorities. While we feel extremely disappointed, we believe it is prudent that we do not compromise on the safety of our guests.

Call For Submission

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Deadline: 20 December 2010

The annual convening of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists is widely recognized as the premier forum on Muslim Philanthropy worldwide. The event welcomes philanthropists, social investors, grant-makers, government and business leaders, visionaries, social entrepreneurs and civil society executives to a solicitation-free collaborative environment.

The 4th World Congress will lead a dialogue around the potential roadmap for Muslim Philanthropy in the next decade. This discussion will be enriched by the collective wisdom and experience of leading philanthropists and intellectuals from around the world.

While high-level plenary and panel discussions take place on day-1, interactive roundtables will be organized on day-2 around four major themes: global hunger, gender equality, social entrepreneurship, and science, technology & innovation (STI). For social investors, the conference will also showcase innovative philanthropic models selected by jury.

Proposals are invited in the following categories:

• Podium Presentations (12 minutes) regarding the conference theme

Press Release:

On November 19, 2010 Halal Industrial Park Baltach (HIP "Baltach") was
officialy launched in Tatarstan. This is the first project in Russia, aimed
at developing of small and medium-sized businesses in the Halal industry.
The aim of the project is deep processing of agricultural products grown by
private holdings, farmers, and creation of conditions and opportunities for
small and medium-sized businesses for production of agricultural products -
and as a result increase in added value and provision of budgetary tax
revenues.

The main advantage of Halal Industrial Park "Baltach" is to optimize the
costs for small and medium-sized businesses on the maintenance of a common
infrastructure. Halal Industrial Park "Baltach" provides its residents with
an outsourcing services: distribution of finished products, consultations
on all matters, housekeeping services, engineering, logistics, transport
maintenance, accounting, legal services as well as 24 security services for
the producers - residents of the park, to concentrate on their businesses
growth. Thus, on the costs of the common scales of the project

The United Arab Emirates needs to boost investment in the agriculture sector, which can supply only 37 per cent of its annual food demand and makes it vulnerable to fluctuating prices.
In 2008 the UAE was forced up to import their bills. Since then they are trying to improve security of food supplies.