Manama: The Kingdom of Bahrain has been sustaining its position as a leading Islamic banking and financial centre globally for many decades, thanks to the stringent regulations and human capital advantages enjoy by the Kingdom.
This was the crux of the panel discussion held at the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIFB) as a pre-event of the 21st annual edition of the World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC 2014). This year the WIBC will set the stage for more than 1300 industry leaders from over 50 countries to discuss the challenges and opportunities for Islamic finance industry globally.
Te organizers of the WIBC 2014 addressing the curtain-raiser press conference said that the 21st annual WIBC under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain and supported by the Central Bank of Bahrain, would attract industry pioneers, thought leaders, key regulators and leading industry players for discussions focused on further boosting the global expansion of Islamic finance.
“For more than two decades now the World Islamic Banking Conference has remained the world’s largest and most influential annual gathering of international leaders in the global Islamic finance industry. At last year’s WIBC we were honoured to have such inspirational industry figures as Sheikh Saleh Kamel address the audience on the past, present and future of Islamic finance as seen through the eyes of a genuine pioneer, and the 21st annual WIBC will continue to build on its tradition of supporting growth, excellence and innovation in the industry,” David McLean, Chief Executive of WIBC, said.
“The rise of Islamic finance in key countries across the globe over the past decade has been largely based on strong demand in both the traditional markets of the GCC and SE Asia combined with the appetite of new markets such as in the UK and Africa, which have truly internationalized the industry. The next crucial stage in the development of Islamic finance is to continually strengthen the backbone that will ensure the stability and future success of Islamic finance. The World Islamic Banking Conference provides an important platform to tackle key issues such as building the technical infrastructure vital to the success of the Islamic finance industry and adapting to challenges such as the implementation of Basel III in Islamic banks,” the CBB in a statement said.
Picking up on key industry trends identified in the recent ICD Thomson Reuters Islamic Finance Development Indicator (IFDI), Mustafa Adil, Head of Research and Development and Lead for the Islamic Finance Development Indicator from Thomson Reuters said that “Bahrain is the most developed Islamic finance market in the region, and the second most developed globally, after Malaysia. The Kingdom has one of the strongest Islamic finance eco-systems in the world, performing well in all the different areas covered in the IFDI. In particular, Bahrain was the top global performer in terms of Governance, second in terms of Knowledge and Corporate Social Responsibility and third in terms of Awareness. This eco-system has supported the country in building up Islamic banking assets in excess of $60 billion and issuing Sukuk with a total outstanding value of over $4 billion. All these factors help to cement the Kingdom’s claim to being one of the premier Islamic finance hubs in the world.”
The three day WIBC 2014 will commence on the 1st of December 2014 with a pragmatically focused pre-conference summit led by respected international industry standard-setting body, IIFM, and a panel of international industry experts.
McLean said that the theme of WIBC 2014 focus on moving Islamic finance towards the new paradigm shift in global financial markets and would tackle key areas in the Islamic finance sector, including regulatory, strategic, Shari’ah, operational and risk transformation to ensure that the industry is able to build critical mass, further expand its geographic reach and depth, and most importantly, to successfully meet the needs of an ever-growing base of investors, customers and end-users.
The main WIBC 2014 conference, which begins on the 2nd of December 2014, will be inaugurated by Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain. The inaugural address will be immediately followed by a special keynote address by Nurlan Kussainov, Deputy Governor, National Bank of Kazakhstan.
The WIBC 2014 will also include a high-profile Industry Leaders’ Power Debate featuring internationally respected CEOs and decision-makers from the leading industry players across the world. Led by Ashar Nazim, Partner, Head of Global Islamic Banking Centre, EY, and featuring Basel Al-Haj-Issa, Chief Executive Officer, Ibdar Bank; Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, Chief Executive Officer, CIMB Islamic Bank; Hisham Alrayes, Chief Executive Officer, Gulf Finance House; Muzaffar Hisham, Head, Group Islamic Banking, Maybank and Chief Executive Officer, Maybank Islamic Berhad, and Toby O’Connor, Chief Executive Officer of the Islamic Bank of Asia, the power debate session will analyse what changes the Islamic finance industry must undergo in order to adapt to a new global paradigm.
In addition, the eagerly anticipated World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report, an original research project led by EY’s award winning Global Islamic Banking Center, will also be launched on-site at WIBC 2014.
“EY this year studied a record 2 million customer sentiments across key Islamic finance markets to understand industry’s future potential. It is obvious from the results that customers want more and better. And they are vocal and ready to switch should they not get the right banking experience. One consistent message was the need to transform the offered banking experience across channels. This requires industrialization of certain core capabilities and skillfully moving cost from ‘running the bank’ to ‘developing the bank’. At the same time, investor confidence remains strong as the industry becomes core business in mainstream markets. While global conventional banks grappled with sanctions and capital pressures, the GCC and Malaysia continue to provide strong new opportunities for Islamic banks. Part of the mainstreaming also requires revisiting branding and communication strategy,” EY in a statement said.
The WIBC 2014 will be an even more global gathering this year as ‘The World Comes to WIBC Initiative’ will feature official delegations representing exciting jurisdictions for Islamic finance including Bahrain, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Azerbaijan. WIBC 2014 will also feature a major international awards function that will recognize excellence, innovation and pioneering initiatives in the global Islamic banking and finance industry.
The World Islamic Banking Conference, in its 21st annual edition, will set the stage for pioneers, industry titans and global leaders who have trail-blazed the development of Islamic finance to gather in the Kingdom of Bahrain to re-mould the critical success factors that will enable the industry to achieve the next set of milestones.