Wednesday, May 28, 2014

A successful first day at the IFN Asia Forum

IFN Iran Forum 2014
14 days to go
Tuesday 27th May 2014
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GLOBAL: The 2014 IFN Asia Forum commenced yesterday in Kuala Lumpur, welcoming over 500 delegates to the industry’s biggest annual event. The forum was inaugurated with an opening keynote address delivered by Professor Dr Rifaat Abdel Karim, CEO of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM), providing an overview of the industry and IILM’s role in addressing liquidity to stimulate the Sukuk market. In his speech, Dr Rifaat highlighted issues of financial stability and economic justice and opportunities in the infrastructure sector, as well as his expectations of a continued and sustainable increase in issuances over the coming years.

The first session of the day gathered industry heavyweights to provide their views and projections of the Islamic finance landscape in 2015. The panel included Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, CEO of CIMB Islamic; Mohammad Kamran Wajid, CEO of Emirates Financial Services and Emirates NBD Capital; Rafee Haneef, CEO of HSBC Amanah; Wasim Akhtar Saifi, CEO of Standard Chartered Saadiq; and Mohammad Faiz Azmi, the executive chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers, as the moderator.

On the back of increased participation in the Islamic finance sphere and new upcoming markets, 2015 was forecast to be “an exciting year”. The heightening trade volumes between Africa and the GCC were emphasized as an opportunity for the industry, as well as the need to bridge the gap between Asia and the Middle East. In terms of the Islamic debt capital market, international issuances are expected to exceed domestic offerings in the long run. Nonetheless, issues such education and prejudice against Islamic finance still remain vital areas to be addressed for the harmonization and continual advancement of the industry.

The second keynote address was delivered by Khaled Mohammed Al Aboodi, CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector arm of the IDB. In his speech Khaled elucidated on the dearth of financing instruments and facilities for the private sector and the lack of new long-term financing products available thereto. Watch out for our exclusive cover interview with Khaled in this week’s issue of Islamic Finance news for more news on the upcoming activities of the ICD.

The regulatory roundtable discussed various issues surrounding the industry’s regulatory environment. One of the highlights of the discussion was the potential of Hong Kong’s upcoming Sukuk paving inroads into mainland China, as pointed out by Daryl Ho, the head of market development at the Hong Kong Monetary Agency. The harmonization of Shariah standards through consistency and clarity was also a point of debate during the regulatory session. As a start, it was suggested that regulators could work towards establishing standardization for Sukuk structures.

During the presentation segment, Jawad Ali, the managing partner at King & Spalding, critically analyzed the true meaning of industry innovation and its vital correlation to the objectives of Islamic finance.

In a discussion on Sukuk and Asian Islamic capital markets, panel members provided valuable views both for and against the case of further innovation; on what, exactly, could and should be considered innovation in the area of Sukuk; and where, if at all, further innovation within the market could make an impression. Khalid Howladar, the global head of Islamic finance at Moody’s, made the bold claim that no innovation was needed in the Sukuk market at the moment. Instead, the industry needs to focus on the basics to develop critical mass and increase supply to meeting the expanding demand.

The IFN Asia Issuers Roundtable saw the meeting of industry goliaths to discuss the success factors of their most prominent deals: namely Sukuk issuances from Khazanah Nasional, Cagamas and FWU Global Takaful Solutions. Sohail Jaffer, the deputy CEO of FWU, revealed that there are a number of corporates in Europe currently highly reliant on bank funding; and while these companies have tangible assets, the problem lies in the fact that they lack the expertise to build the alternative financing route. He suggested that governments should form a specialized advisory group to assist these corporates to access an alternative financing base and tap outside the European market, which could potentially open up the European market to Sukuk issues.

In the final session of the issuer’s day, distinguished market players engaged in a lively discussion on resolving key regulatory, risk and Shariah issues facing the industry. A resounding consensus among our panel of experts concluded that the Islamic finance and banking industry needs to be treated on par with its conventional counterpart; and needs to grow in strength and depth to be able to mold itself a separate regulation akin to Basel III. Regulations must produce the same end results for Islamic financial institutions as they do conventional, but at the same time, recognize that the underlying structures are different.


Today’s IFN Alerts



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March 2014
March 2014


Deals of the Year Handbook
 


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IFN Iran Forum 2014
10th June 2014
by REDmoney events

IFN Europe Forum 2014
26th June 2014
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IFN Global Forum 2014
15th - 16th September 2014
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IFN Kuwait Forum 2014
29th September 2014
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IFN Sri Lanka Forum 2014
13th October 2014
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IFN Africa Forum 2014
4th October 2014
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12th - 13th June 2014 (Kuala Lumpur)
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17th June 2014 (Kuala Lumpur)
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Structuring Islamic Legal Documentation
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Islamic Finance Qualification
23rd - 25th June 2014 (Kuala Lumpur)
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Advanced Sukuk & Islamic Securitization
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Structuring Islamic Retail Banking Products
25th - 27th August 2014 (Muscat)
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Structuring Corporate Banking Solutions
8th - 10th September 2014 (Dubai)
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22nd - 24th September 2014 (Kuala Lumpur)
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Islamic Fund and Asset Management
25th - 26th September 2014 (Kuala Lumpur)
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Advanced Sukuk & Islamic Securitization
10th - 12th November 2014 (Kuala Lumpur)
by Islamic Finance training

Advanced Sukuk & Islamic Securitization
8th - 10th December 2014 (Dubai)
by Islamic Finance training




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