Governors, Ministers, C-level bankers & asset managers,
fintech entrepreneurs, institutional investors, social entrepreneurs,
services providers, socially responsible investors, and academics converged at Islamic finance’s longest-running gathering
Manama, Bahrain, 2 December 2015:
His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime
Minister has deputized H.E Rasheed Al Maraj, the Governor of the Central
Bank of Bahrain, to open the 22nd Annual World Islamic Banking
Conference (WIBC) at Gulf Hotel today. Considered as the leading compass
for the Islamic finance industry, the 3-day event is being held under
the patronage of HRH the Prime Minister and will see the participation
of over 1,200 leaders of the industry from Europe, East Asia, Middle
East and North Africa.
The discussions will focus on the future progress of Islamic finance which is celebrating the 40th anniversary since launch.
In the morning,
WIBC 2015 hosted no less than 4 central bank Governors and deputy
governors, featuring speeches and discussions by the Governor of the
Central Bank of Bahrain, H.E. Rasheed Al Maraj, the Executive President
of the Central Bank of Oman, H.E. Hamood Sangour Al Zadjali, Deputy
Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Riaz Riazuddin and the Deputy
Governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, Nurlan Kussainov.
Opening the historic forum was the Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain’s,
H.E. Rasheed Al Maraj, who said: “The announced centralized Shariah
board for Bahrain has been given wide authority to direct the innovation
in Bahrain’s Islamic finance sector”. Bahrain is renowned as a global
Islamic finance hub, coming second in Thomson Reuters’ Islamic Finance
Development Indicator (IFDI), reflecting its healthy ecosystem as the
country seeks to increase the proportion of assets being managed from
its jurisdiction. The Executive President of the Central
Bank of Oman, H.E. Hamood Sangour Al-Zadjali stated: “The Islamic
finance industry will benefit from and lead wider socioeconomic
development once an operational framework is set up”.
Overall, the
opening ceremony was attended by central bank dignitaries from Turkey,
Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan, Sudan, South Africa and Indonesia, as
well as senior officials from Abu Dhabi Global Market, Dubai
International Financial Center Authority, Qatar Financial Centre
Authority, Toronto Financial Services Alliance, Luxembourg for Finance
and the Ministry of Finance & Treasury of the Republic of Maldives.
The Governors’ remarks
were followed with an exceptional line-up of seasoned and respected
industry practitioners who took stock of the 40-year-old industry,
assessing its growth, impact and achievements as well as discussing what
the future roadmap should look like. Five of the most respected global
leaders in Islamic finance addressed the core question of how the
current system can converge with its original proposition: H.E. Nurlan
Kussainov, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, Datuk Professor Rifaat Ahmed Abdel Karim, CEO of International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM), Noor Abid, Board Member of Kuwait Finance House Group, Dato. Professor Azmi Omar, Director General, Islamic Research and Training Institute, Islamic Development Bank and Dr. Sayd Farook, Vice Chairman & CEO of Middle East Global Advisors.
The conveners of
WIBC, Middle East Global Advisors - an intelligence platform serving
the Middle East North Africa Southeast Asia (MENASEA) region for the
last 22 years – organised an incredible line-up of speakers for the rest
of the afternoon of the 2nd of December. They include industry leaders
such as Stephen Vineburg, CEO of ASMA Capital Partners, renowned Islamic economist Dr. Mohamed Elgari, Talal Yassine, Managing Director at Crescent Wealth, Michael McMillen, Global Head of Islamic Finance & Investment at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle.
The 3rd and final day of WIBC 2015 continues on the 2nd of December
and will witness the highly anticipated speeches on the impact of oil
markets and China’s economy on Islamic economies and financial markets -
by Dr. Hani Findakly, former CIO of the World Bank Group and current
Vice Chairman of the Clinton Group, and Manjiang Cheng, Chief Economist
at Bank of China International respectively.
To find out more about WIBC, visit www.wibc2015.com.