IslamicFinance.de

Lexpert Partners AG, a Zug based law firm specialised in providing legal and regulatory advice for the financial industry and to private clients, has appointed Dr. Andrew Ertl, as Partner, effective as of November 1, 2017. Andrew Ertl will be focusing on banking and finance law with a specialist know-how in Sharia compliant structuring as well as data protection law (including GDPR).

Andrew Ertl joins Lexpert Partners from the Swiss Bankers’ Association where he held the position of Head of Compliance and Data Protection and was member of senior management.

Prior to joining the Swiss Bankers’ Association, Andrew Ertl worked as general counsel and secretary of the Board for Peak Values AG, and as in-house counsel for Bank Sarasin & Cie AG and UBS AG.

Andrew Ertl has a doctorate of law (Dr. iur.) from the University of Bern (2012), [Thesis Sharia compliant financial products under Swiss Law] and an additional Masters degree from the University of Edinburgh (UK) in European Commercial Law. Andrew Ertl is fluent in English and German and proficient in French.

In its 2012 Islamic Wealth Management Report illustrated by masterpieces of Islamic calligraphy, by the Chinese Muslim master Hajji Noordeen, deals with the theme “The path to corporate transformation – converting a company to Islam”.

Bank Sarasin reviews the complexities of converting a business to Islam, a topic which is rarely discussed or written about. Conversion is complicated by the need to address every aspect of a business, the lack of broadly accepted standards and regulations, and differences in the Muslim world itself. The Report, released today, is the Bank’s third on Islamic Wealth Management.

Converting a business to Islam can increase the value of a company by 18-25% due to the scarcity of genuine Islamic investments. But the conversion process is arduous, extending from the design to distribution and beyond, to how the company spends its profits. As Sarasin notes, the market potential is massive, with the global Muslim population expected to increase by 26% to 2030, to 2.2 billion, rivalling China and India in terms of market size.