Shari'ah Law tops Cards Middle East agenda

Taking place from May 22nd - 23rd, at the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel in Dubai, the conference will feature speakers from four of the region's leading Islamic financial institutions to address the new business opportunities of Islamic credit offerings and the impact of Shari'ah law.

'The region has seen a surge in Islamic banking in recent years, not only through the local banks, but international banks have also launched Islamic banking services to cater to this market. According to the International Monetary Fund, there are today more than 300 Islamic financial institutions in 75 countries around the world,'

said Edward Haines, Conference Director for Cards Middle East 2006, Terrapinn.

'The Shari'ah law has a strong impact on the cards business in particular, and this raises issues with regards to compliance in payment associations, fee implementation and ROI for Islamic banks.'

The Cards Middle East conference will feature the following speakers focusing specifically on this topic: Ossama Salah El Din, vice president, Sharjah Islamic Bank, Magdi Ali Fayed, manager - card services, Qatar International Islamic Bank, Mohamed Al Amiri, senior vice president - head of branches, Dubai Islamic Bank and Khairil Anuar, head of cards, Al Rahji Bank. Issues covered will include utilizing the potential of the Islamic credit card market, accessing new market segments through Islamic products and capitalizing on the launch of Islamic banking.

Cards Middle East is organized by Terrapinn, regional organizers of various other finance & investment conferences such as: Hedge Funds World Middle East, Commodity Investment World Middle East, Asset Allocation Summit Middle East, Funds World Middle East, Islamic Funds World and Private Equity World MENA, among others. The conference is sponsored by Mastercard, ACI, Thales, HPS, GPS, Trueb Switzerland, TietoEnator, EastNets and LogicaCMG.