Seera launches White Paper on Islamic banking and investment in partnership with Dow Jones Private Equity

The first in a series of thought-leadership reports was presented at the 15th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC). Seera (formerly known as United International Bank) was the Innovation Sponsor of WIBC, which was held from November 23 to 25, 2008 at the Gulf Hotel, Manama, Bahrain.

Commenting on Seera's ground-breaking report on Sharia-compliant investments, Mr. Abdulla Janahi , General Manager and Acting Chief Executive Officer of Seera, said:

"The World Islamic Banking Conference has emerged as a global forum for communicating the values of Islamic banking to a wider audience. With industry leaders gathered under one platform, it was the ideal forum to launch the white paper, where peers were able to discuss the emerging concepts in this vital banking sector that is seeing robust growth and progress worldwide. We believe that Seera's inaugural report will provide some thought-provoking insights into Shari'a-compliant private equity investment."

Seera's Chief Investment Officer Dr. Raed Sarhan, and the Head of Shari'ah Compliance Department Dr. Mohammed Arbouna, were among the key speakers at the WIBC.

Dr. Raed Sarhan presented the White Paper along with Mr. Shawn Jaswal, Research Analyst, Dow Jones Private Markets during a session on The New Mainstream: Islamic Private Equity and Competitiveness whereas Dr. Mohammed Burhan Arbouna addressed a session on The Shari'a and Business Open Forum: Achieving Harmonization of Shari'a Rulings.

Dr. Raed commented that, "With Seera's growing investment portfolio, we feel that it is important to explore ways of how to leverage our Shari'a compliant mandate to create interesting investment opportunities that are suited to today's market. Although Private Equity is not a new concept but its application as an Islamic investment instrument is relatively new. The White Paper identifies the opportunities and challenges faced by Islamic banks in investing in Private Equity transactions. Seera recently completed its second Private Equity transaction, through the acquisition of BWA Water Additives in UK, and the paper has used it as a case study to highlight the benefits and challenges faced during the completion of this acquisition."

Seera, which occupied an exhibition stand at the conference, also hosted a Conference Luncheon on November 25.

The WIBC is, today, the world's largest gathering of Islamic finance leaders. This premier Islamic banking event has been successfully mapping the international growth and expansion of the Islamic finance industry over the years. In keeping with its global eminence, the 15th edition of the conference is expected to attract a thousand market leaders from over 45 countries.