“The Kingdom has the highest concentration of Islamic banking entities in the world and events such as AAOIFI-World Bank Conference will help to maintain its leading role and position,” Abdulhakeem Alkhayyat, Managing Director and CEO of KFH-B in a statement said after the opening of the AAOIFI-World Bank Conference on Sunday.
“The Islamic banking and finance will continue to be stable segment of the global economy, thanks to its business model backed by assets and not stack of papers,” Alkhayyat told 24X7 News on the sidelines of the conference.
The 15% to 20% growth, he said, is very encouraging and this segment of the global economy will also see future robust growth despite some challenging conditions in the market.
KFH-B is supporting the AAOIFI – World Bank Annual Conference on Islamic Banking and Finance 2011, currently being held at the Bahrain Conference Centre, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Kingdom of Bahrain.
“KFH-Bahrain is committed to supporting such important conferences that enrich the field of Islamic banking through the discussion of topics related to the industry. The Conference provides a central forum to debate various key issues among participants and specialists from Islamic banks and financial institutions”, he added.
The Conference is organized by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) in partnership with the World Bank and under the auspices of Central Bank of Bahrain.
The AAOIFI-World Bank Conference is specifically designed to give the international Islamic finance industry the collaborative platform to consider the emerging requirements and needs of Islamic financial institutions around the world and address issues that have arisen as the Islamic banking sector has steadily grown.
Topics being addressed during the Conference include; Challenges in applying International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for Islamic finance, Inevitability of existence of Shari’a Supervisory Boards in Islamic financial institutions, Potential of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in Islamic finance (structure and performance), Potential of using Islamic finance in international trade (products and instruments), Potential risks and difficulties in implementation of Basel III in Islamic financial institutions, and Surplus distribution to shareholders in Takaful companies.