Bahrain conference to provide insights into global Islamic finance

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Thursday 19 Nov 2015 - 13:40 Makkah mean time-7-2-1437 Image from BNA Manama, (IINA) - An expert in Islamic finance unveiled salient features of the "Finance Forward Islamic Finance Outlook Report 2016" which will be presented at the World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC), scheduled to be held in Bahrain next month. Dr. Sayd Farook, Vice Chairman and CEO of Middle East Global Advisors, said that the report, which will be launched at WIBC on December 2, will give cutting-edge insights on the outlook of the global Islamic financial industry, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported.   Farook, who is also convener of the forthcoming three-day WIBC, said:  "The Outlook Report is expected to serve as a compass for Islamic finance leaders who are undertaking key decisions that will fundamentally shape their business strategies for 2016."  The uniqueness of the report, he continued, is that it combines meaningful insights from Islamic finance leaders - gathered from an extensive survey of practitioners’ sentiment with robust analysis of the performance of Islamic financial institutions. According to the report, three major global macro developments of 2015 will shape the outlook of the industry: commodity prices (particularly oil), development in global interest rate policy, and a slowdown of the Chinese economy. Low commodity prices do not bode well for either the Gulf Cooperation Council or Southeast Asian economies, home to most of the world’s Islamic banks. Survey results of the Outlook Report highlighted two key trends: the development of ethical business models and that of digital banking. Speaking about the importance of these trends, Blake Goud, Chief research officer at Middle East global advisors added that "Sharia compliance is necessary but not sufficient for consumers demanding ethical financial services. This implies that corporate social responsibility is not enough consumers want their financial institutions to integrate an ethical approach into their core business mode." On technology, he noted: "Bankers told us that internet and mobile banking (40 percent and 38 percent respectively) were the priorities in reaching their customer, higher than the share who said they used branches (25 percent) and ATMs (15 percent)."  SM/IINA