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Details of the study - The Politics Of Islamic Finance - are to be revealed next month at the first International Islamic Finance Forum for 2004 that takes place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (www.iiff.net
The study forms the basis of a major new book with the same title to be published shortly by Edinburgh University Press that examines the attitudes of governments throughout the world to Islamic finance.
It finds that even in the Arab and Muslim world, governments are split over their attitude to Islamic finance. Some are supportive while others are hostile. Similarly, some Muslim and Arab countries oscillate between opportunism and suspicion of the industry - internationally estimated to be the world's fastest growing financial sector.
The Politics Of Islamic Finance is one of the keynote addresses to the International Islamic Finance Forum, that takes place from 6 to 9 March 2004. More than 300 high-level Islamic finance executives and academics from up to 40 countries will take part.
The forum is held under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Defence Minister of the United Arab Emirates.
The address kicks off a wide-ranging debate on issues confronting the industry, led by Professor Rodney Wilson, of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Durham, UK, a co-author of the new book.
Prof Wilson believes the Dubai debate will be "extremely interesting and lively, as the political issues concerning the extent of government and central bank support for Islamic finance are important and have not been addressed in such a forum in the past."
In addition, however, Professor Wilson said: "It will, for example, draw attention to good practice, such as the supportive stance of the Bahrain Monetary Agency and the new Islamic banking law in Kuwait. The experiences in Malaysia have also been very positive, as indeed has that of the UK in recent months."
Forum Director Chris Mullinger added that once again the International Islamic Finance Forum will be confronting head-on important industry issues.
"The Dubai debate will examine the political implications of the steady accumulation of Islamic capital but will also demonstrate that the commonly-held Western perception of connections between Islamic finance and money laundering or terrorism is a false one.
"The forum explores the political contexts in which Islamic finance operates throughout the world and contributes to correcting those misunderstandings about Islamic banking and finance."
"The twice-a-year forum is unique in the openness and frankness of debate and has earned it the reputation as the premier event in Islamic finance."
The Dubai 2004 event has attracted high level international associations and sponsorships. The event is being run in association with Dow Jones Indexes of the USA. The Islamic Market family of indexes is the broad DJ Islamic Market Index (DJIM-Global) with 1,600 plus companies with a market cap of $9 trillion.
The Saudi Economic & Development Company Ltd. (SEDCO) are also associates of the International Islamic Finance Forum.
SEDCO are an Islamic Shariah compliant investment firm based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with offices in US, UK and Yemen. Established in 1976 primarily as a contracting and trading company, SEDCO has evolved to become an investment company with diversified interests in financial, real estate and direct investment. For example, it has a portfolio of 300 properties in 17 countries:
Diamond Sponsor of the Forum is the National Commercial Bank, Saudi Arabia. With active branches in Bahrain and Beirut, five overseas representation offices and more than 600 foreign correspondent banks, the NCB is currently positioned as the largest bank throughout the Arab world.
The NCB is the leading provider of Islamically-compliant products and services and is the largest mutual fund manager in the Kingdom, with a 51% market share and more than SR25 billion invested in 27 funds, including 14 Islamic funds.
The established leader in Islamic banking and liquidity management services, ABCIB Islamic Asset Management of Bahrain and the UK, are Platinum Sponsors.
The ABCIB Islamic Asset Management team concentrates on, real estate, equipment leasing, securitisation, and structured trade finance. It establishes and manages investment products both for itself and ABC Group members, and for third party institutions requiring well managed Shariah-compliant investment products.
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), which is actively pursuing Islamic finance involvement in the new centre, is also a Platinum Sponsor. Situated as a bridge between the financial centres of Europe and Asia, DIFC is a platform for accessing the trillion dollar regional market. It is a gateway for the flow of capital between the region and international capital markets.
Gold Sponsor is Oasis Global Management of South Africa and Ireland. The company was established to provide clients with the opportunity of investing in international security markets around the globe. The company is responsible for the management of the Oasis Global Investment Scheme:
Silver Sponsor is The FWU-Group. FWU is an entrepreneurial financial services group headquartered in Munich, Germany. Core activities include private label distribution of customised Life Takaful and traditional unit-linked life insurance products and asset management. The FWU-Group primarily deals with financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and corporate pension plans.
A second Silver Sponsor is Guidance Financial of the USA. In the US Guidance has assisted hundreds in acquiring their homes with a Shariah compliant home finance program. Internationally, Guidance offers a U.S. open-ended Fixed Income Fund, a Pan-European Property Fund, and an Asian Private Equity Fund.
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Posted by Anne-Birte Stensgaard, Senior News Editor
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