Islamic Finance Forum will be bigger this year

The third International Islamic Finance Forum, which opens in Dubai on February 23, comes as a direct result of the success of previous events in Dubai last March and in Geneva, Switzerland in July. The twice-a-year Forum (www.iiff.net) is now firmly established as the premier business-to-business event in the industry and the Islamic finance equivalent of the World Economic Forum held each year in Davos, Switzerland.

The Dubai 2003 Forum will be the largest yet and is being held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence. This Forum is organised by the Dubai offices of the Institute for International Research in association with Dow Jones Indexes, the Saudi Economic & Development Company and iHilal Financial Services.

Dow Jones created the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes for those who wish to invest according to Islamic investment guidelines; SEDCO is one of the world's largest sponsors of Shariah compliant funds; iHilal is a globally regulated Islamic financial services company; and IIR is the world's leading conference and exhibition organiser.

Debates will centre on the challenges faced by a financial sector managing assets worth in excess of $230 billion that is predicted to maintain double digit annual growth rates for the next 15 to 20 years.

Among the dozens of areas to be hotly debated at this highly topical forum will be: the international regulatory environment and how it affects Islamic finance; the growing multi-billion dollar Islamic sukuk market; mergers, acquisitions and private equity, wealth management; dilemmas for Islamic private bankers and wealth managers; accounting standards; the worldwide growth is Islamic real estate mortgaging; and the performance of Muslim stock exchanges

There will also be a special presentation by international organisations and personalities behind the creation of the world's first truly Shariah compliant Hedge Fund of Funds. Shariah Funds Inc., a division of US-based Meyer Capital Partners, is planning the formal launch of its first Shariah compliant Hedge Fund product in the first quarter of 2003.

'Our mission is to create sophisticated Islamic financial products for the institutional Muslim investor that will be fiercely competitive with similar western financial products,' says Eric Meyer, President and CEO of Shariah Funds. Shariah Funds is a platinum sponsor of the International Islamic Finance Forum and an asset management company devoted to the creation of Shariah compliant hedge fund and venture fund products for the sophisticated Muslim investor.

The Islamic Hedge Fund and other challenging innovations in Islamic finance will come under the close scrutiny of a special Shariah Symposium - a 10-member panel of the world's leading Shariah scholars - which will be held on the first day of the forum.

'This will be a fascinating session examining the effect on corporate governance of the diverse legal, economic, philosophical and theological issues of Islamic and faith-based investing,' says conference director Chris Mullinger. 'The world of Islamic finance is one of increasing sophistication and reach but with a growing convergence of global standards for financial service regulation.

'In only 10 years or so, Islamic finance has grown from virtually nothing to a business worth well in excess of US$230 billion. Islamic finance now has customers in 75 countries and in some of those countries has already captured more than 30 per cent of market share. With annual growth rates of around 15 per cent, it is far outstripping the conventional financial market and can no longer be ignored by the rest of the financial world.'