Amanie Advisors launch office in Oman ahead of Muscat International Islamic Financial Forum

This adds to the groups growing list of offices in Kuala Lumpur, Luxembourg, Dubai, Dublin, Cairo, South Korea, Melbourne, and Astana, positioning itself as a truly global, boutique advisory firm.

The new company, Amanie Advisory House of Oman, will be led by Omani banker, Fahad Al-Khalili, who will be charged with business development activities for Amanie's Islamic Finance Advisory business, as well as Country head for Amanie's growing list of businesses.

Commenting on the group's decision to enter Oman, Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar, Amanie's founder and Group Chairman, commented, "We see a lot of opportunity, both among the financial community, who are keen to expand into Islamic products, as well as in the financial advisory side of things, where we anticipate many developers will be keen to seek Shariah-compliant funding for their projects."

To commemorate the opening and draw attention to the new opportunities in the Omani market, Amanie and Meethaq, the Islamic banking division of Bank Muscat, will be hosting the Muscat International Islamic Financial Forum (MIIFF) on 4th to 5th November, 2012 (MIIFF).

Meethaq, as part of its long standing commitment to Islamic Finance, will be welcoming global leaders to Muscat to discuss the way forward for the industry's further development, both within Oman and the wider region.

The two-day gathering will bring senior industry figures, global investors, takaful operators, and bankers, as well as top Shariah scholars. The topics will focus on the newly created opportunities in Oman and other countries in the wider region new to Islamic Finance.

Specifically, the forum will discuss the current state of the Sukuk market, new opportunities for Takaful providers, winning strategies for distributing funds; and the issues faced by new Islamic banks in Oman, such as asset-liability management, treasury and interbank money markets.

Giving the keynote address will be his Excellency Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia. Throughout his tenure as Prime Minister, between 1981 and 2003, Tun Mahathir was a strong supporter of the global development of the Islamic Finance Industry.

Dr. Mohd Daud said, "Hosting informative events is an ideal way to greet a new market. With so much education required in our field, we felt that bringing many of our industry friends together and hosting a conference would help us to meet many new friends and help get people talking about new possibilities and collaborations."