• HSBC

Failaka publishes guide exploring world of influential scholars behind high-growth Islamic finance industry

  • United Arab Emirates: Tuesday, July 15 - 2008 at 13:57
  • PRESS RELEASE

Failaka Advisors today announced the publication of the world's first book profiling the Shariah scholars responsible for ensuring the permissibility of the rapidly growing numbers of Islamic financial products worldwide.

Failaka's book, The Shariah Report 2008, provides a detailed listing of over 250 Shariah scholars along with profiles of the 100 most active scholars in the field of Islamic finance.

The scholarly profiles include, for the first time, biographical information on the most active 100 Shariah scholars, including information on their education and experience, board memberships, publications, and affiliations. Also included is a cross-referenced index of financial institutions and their Shariah boards.

Bahrain-based Sheikh Nizam Yaquby, writing in the introduction to the book, describes idea of publishing The Shariah Report 2008 as "a brilliant one!"

Traditionally, the world of Shariah scholars has been perceived as opaque, with many outsiders and practitioners questioning the basis of scholarly interpretations as well as the qualifications, remuneration and business methods of the elite scholars who increasingly give their stamp of approval on very large capital market transactions.

Mark Smyth, Managing Director of Failaka, a United Arab Emirates based consultancy, said:

"As the field of Islamic finance continues to grow and mature, many have developed an interest in the world of Shariah scholars. While the questions are many, the answers have often been hard to find."


"Our goal has always been to increase transparency and disclosure in this niche and with so many enquiring about the role of scholars, we felt that a book would be just the thing," he added.

The Shariah Report 2008 has been sponsored by Yasaar, the Shariah consultancy, in association with the FTSE Group.

Yasaar and FTSE Group are recent collaborators on the FTSE Shariah Global Equity Index Series, which comprises the large and mid cap stocks from the FTSE Global Equity Index Series which are screened conservatively for their adherence to Shariah-law. The series includes 96 indices covering developed and emerging markets.

Paul Hoff, Managing Director, Asia Pacific of FTSE Group, said:

"FTSE's ability to partner with experts in niche areas, such as Yasaar in the development of the FTSE Shariah Global Equity Index Series, ensures that we produce tools that meet the needs of the most conservative end investor. We are happy to join Yasaar again, this time in supporting this invaluable industry guide."
 
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About Failaka Advisors:
In 1997, Failaka Advisors became the first organisation to track and publish performance results for Islamic equity funds; that year, their first Islamic Fund Report included thirteen funds. Now their Islamic Fund Database reports on the investment objectives, fund geography, top-ten holdings, and assets and performance of the more than 300 Islamic equity funds worldwide that report regularly to Failaka website.

About Yasaar:
Yasaar Limited, a UK-incorporated company, is pioneering an independent approach to Shariah compliance and co-ordination services. These services can be utilised on a confidential basis by any bona fide financial institution, regulatory authority, corporate entity, individual investor, fund manager, legal firm, accounting and auditing partnership, and rating agencies.

About the FTSE Group:
The FTSE Group is a world-leader in the creation and management of indexes. With offices in Beijing, London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Madrid, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Boston, Shanghai and Tokyo, FTSE Group services clients in 77 countries worldwide. It calculates and manages the FTSE Global Equity Index Series, which includes world-recognised indexes ranging from the FTSE All-World Index, the FTSE4Good series and the FTSEurofirst Index series, as well as domestic indexes such as the prestigious FTSE 100. The company has collaborative arrangements with the Athens, AMEX, Cyprus, Euronext, Johannesburg London, Madrid, NASDAQ, Thailand and Taiwan exchanges, as well as Nomura Securities and Xinhua Finance of China. FTSE also has a collaborative agreement with Dow Jones Indexes to develop a single sector classification system for global investors.

FTSE indexes are used extensively by investors world-wide for investment analysis, performance measurement, asset allocation, portfolio hedging and for creating a wide range of index tracking funds. Independent committees of senior fund managers, derivatives experts, actuaries and other experienced practitioners review all changes to the indexes to ensure that they are made objectively and without bias. Real-time FTSE indexes are calculated on systems managed by Reuters. Prices and FX rates used are supplied by Reuters.

For further information about the Shariah Report 2008 contact:
Steven Jones
Shamal Marketing Communications
Dubai, UAE
Tel: +971 50455 9769

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