Saeed Haider
MANAMA — The 22nd Annual Islamic Banking Conference opened today at the Gulf Hotel in Manama, Bahrain under the aegis of Bahraini Prime Minister Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, to review the current global economic environment and role of Islamic banking as a catalyst to the growth and development of businesses and economies
The three-day conference is being organized by Middle East Global Advisors (MEGA) and supported by the Central Bank of Bahrain. WIBC 2015 harnesses the power of technology, social media & cutting-edge research to give delegates a powerful outlook to the trends shaping the global financial services industry.
One unique aspect discussed in the session was the role of technology in delivering financial services — as a bridge towards greater financial inclusion of the 72% of Muslims around the world who do not have access to financial services. Alongside this important goal is how to better integrate Islamic finance not just within Muslim communities but to reach out and recognize the opportunity for building an industry that is no longer viewed as a niche but which works in both non-Muslim majority countries and with the broader responsible investing and finance sector.
The experts attending the conference focused on declining oil prices, slow down in Chinese economy that has devastated several economies, and agreed that the changing economic environment compels the industry to challenge itself to find new opportunities for growth and connect with markets that offer strong long-term value propositions for the industry’s growth proposition.
During the next two days the conference aims at generating original insights to plan for the next 40 years and encourage industry engagement to identify the key opportunities and challenges that must be overcome.
The breakout sessions across the two days are arranged in two simultaneous streams giving the option to delegates to either attend banking and finance sessions or asset management sessions. For asset managers, the objective is to provide a holistic view of opportunities in 2016 from the perspective of asset allocation.
The program and content of the conference has been structured with a recognition of the transition that is underway in the Islamic financial services industry as it marks its 40th anniversary.
Rather than simply celebrating the success of creating — from the ground up — a nearly $2 trillion industry, the conference starts with a critical review of the ambitions that drove the foundation of the Islamic finance industry.
For bankers, the objective is to provide perspective on the leadership challenges in banking, including a ground-breaking report on human capital in the Islamic finance by simply Shariah Human Capital. The WIBC Performance Awards will also be announced tomorrow evening.
