Simon Schmidt, an associate in the Doha, Qatar, office of Patton Boggs LLP, a US law firm based in Washington, DC, will be flown to Istanbul, Turkey, to take part in the forum as part of the nearly 60-strong speaker faculty of the benchmark event in Islamic finance.
The "New Voices" competition - promoted on the event website www.iiff.com - invited submissions on a range of topical subjects from people who had not previously spoken at an Islamic finance conference.
"Simon's submission was clear and concise and stood out from the dozens of entries we received from around the globe," said Chris Mullinger of Dubai-based IIR Middle East that organises the forum in association with Dow Jones Indexes.
As the winner, Simon receives travel and accommodation to attend the forum as a speaker. Runners up have been offered free passes to attend the forum as delegates.
Simon chose the subject of Islamic Corporate Governance: Protecting Depositors. His presentation will outline the corporate governance protections innate in Shariah and the extent to which these compare with or differ from conventional finance norms. He will also examine developments in Islamic corporate governance to satisfy the expectations of the investment community.
Prior to moving to Qatar in 2003 Simon worked with the Patton Boggs for two years in Abu Dhabi. He advises clients in the areas of banking, financial services, corporate and international business law.
Simon advises government and private institution clients in the Middle East. He has advised government and commercial bodies in member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council on issues relating to international treaty obligations, bilateral trade agreements, complex multi-jurisdictional litigation, UK financial services regulation, private international law and a wide range of international investments.
His practice focuses on conventional and Islamic structured finance and investment by institutional and private investors in the Middle East and North Africa.
Simon is qualified as a solicitor in the UK and an advocate in the Isle of Man. He is also the first English lawyer - and only the second non-Qatari - admitted to the register of lawyers in Qatar.
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Qatar lawyer wins Islamic finance speaking scholarship
- Qatar: Saturday, September 18 - 2004 at 11:27
- PRESS RELEASE
The first English lawyer admitted to the register of lawyers in Qatar has won the New Voices In Islamic Finance scholarship to speak at the International Islamic Finance Forum.
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The International Islamic Finance Forum - known as the "premier event" in the multi-billion dollar no-interest financial industry - attracts hundreds of the world's top Islamic finance practitioners from more than 50 countries.The forum, which takes places twice a year in the Arabian Gulf and Turkey, was first held in Istanbul in September last year and was judged a major success. The forum taking place in Istanbul from 27 to 29 September this year will be even bigger and the most successful yet, say IIR Middle East.
The international Islamic finance industry has been growing at a projected rate of 15% a year and is currently estimated to be worth something in excess of US$300 billion as new Islamically-compliant financial instruments and products are introduced.
The Istanbul 2004 event has attracted high-level international associations and sponsorships.
The event is run in association with Dow Jones Indexes of the USA. The broad DJ Islamic Market Index (DJIM-Global) has 1,600 plus companies with a market cap of $9 trillion.
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.
Platinum Sponsors are Oasis Global Management, South Africa and Ireland; and HSBC Amanah. Oasis has generated an impressive track record and was responsible for the management of the best performing Islamic Global Equity Fund in 2001 and 2002. HSBC Amanah is the global Islamic financial services division of the HSBC Group, and was established with the aim of making HSBC the leading provider of value added Islamic financial services worldwide.
Gold Sponsors are Bahrain Financial Harbour, a US$1.3 billion masterplan development, encompassing finance, commerce, lifestyle, leisure and the arts.
Silver Sponsors are Unicorn Investment Bank, a Bahrain based Islamic investment bank regulated by the Bahrain Monetary Agency.
Other Sponsors and Exhibitors include: Kuveyt Turk, Turkey; Vinson & Elkins, USA and UAE; Wafra, USA; Accpac, UAE; Solidarity, Bahrain; FWU Group, Germany.
For further details and background on the International Islamic Finance Forum, please visit www.iiff.com where you can register for frequent updates.
Posted by Anne-Birte Stensgaard, Senior News EditorSaturday, September 18 - 2004 at 11:27 UAE local time (GMT+4)
Replication or redistribution in whole or in part is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AME Info FZ LLC / Emap Limited.
This article was updated on Fri Dec 01 2006.
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