5 March 2018 leading luminaries from Islamic finance gathered at the London stock exchange. Dr Bandar Hajjar, President of the Islamic Development Bank highlighted the need for London with its world class financial services expertise to be at the heart of the “Islamic finance revolution” and for it to leverage its global marketplace to help realise the potential of Islamic finance. »
The prize remains up for grabs with none of the current hubs in the Middle East and South East Asia able to achieve the critical mass to move from a domestic to regional centre, and then upwards into a global Islamic finance centre. »
Malaysian Islamic Finance at Cross Roads Following its recent Sukuk default, the IMDB corruption scandals continues to cast a dark shadow over the Malaysian financial sector with this week the United States moving to seize more than $1bn in assets, ranging from plush properties to a private jet, from people connected to Prime Minister Najib Razak. Against this backdrop, Islamic finance activity in... »
Luxembourg: The Gateway for Islamic finance and the Middle East Luxembourg is the leading non-Muslim domicile for Sharia complaint investment funds, a popular location for listing Sukuk on the primary market and the domicile of choice for the international investment structures of a number of sovereign wealth funds according to a report released by Ernst and Young’s Luxembourg office highlighting ... »
Bank Negara Malaysia today launched MarketplaceIF, a e-market platform where those seeking Islamic finance financial solutions and services are able to meet providers. »
As the Islamic financial industry continues to experience exponential growth, offshore financial centres (OFCs) are keen to market their value for the development of Sharia compliant financial products. OFCs are working towards establishing comprehensive eco-systems to gain competitive advantages over other jurisdictions for business, promoting the element of low taxes or low costs of doing busine... »
The ethical principles of Islamic Economics should be at the forefront of thought and intention rather than financial structuring. It is likely only sociably responsible financial centres with depth, liquidity, and well established regulatory and legal frameworks will build the critical mass and emerge as significant Islamic Financial centres. London and Kuala Lumpur are the obvious two locations ... »
The UK has one of the most advanced Islamic financial markets in the western world and is quickly becoming a key destination for foreign Shari’ah-compliant institutions. The country is home to the west’s first fully fledged Shari’ah-compliant retail bank and currently has five true Islamic banks. In 2014, the United Kingdom became the first Western European country to issue a Sovereign Sukuk with ... »
The Hong Kong government has been encouraging more finance activity of Islamic instruments in the city with sukuk issuance. Still, there’s little activity seen in sharia-compliant offerings. »
