World Islamic Finance Forum 2022 on 'Development of Islamic Finance Ecosystem for Global Prosperity' concludes

May 30-31, 2022: The Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance (CEIF), IBA, Karachi organized a two-day conference World Islamic Finance Forum (WIFF) 2022 with the theme, "Development of Islamic Finance Ecosystem for Global Prosperity". The conference was held at Movenpick Hotel, Karachi to discuss policy guidelines along with academic footprint in the field of Islamic Finance. The conference brought together regulatory authorities, researchers, renowned academicians, leading Islamic bankers, Shariah scholars and prominent personalities from local and global Islamic financial institutions.

The conference was held in academic collaboration with Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Qatar; INCEIF, Malaysia; and Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences (SDBS – LUMS); under the convenorship of Dr. Irum Saba, Associate Professor and Program Director, MS Islamic Banking and Finance, IBA; and Conference Co-Convenor, Mr. Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, Director CEIF, IBA. The conference had over 70 local and international speakers from Malaysia, Maldives, Qatar, UAE, USA, UK, France, Turkey, Bahrain and Pakistan and was attended by around 450 participants while an online audience of around approximately 4.5 thousand participated while via live broadcast.

The highlight of the conference was the addresses by Dr. S Akbar Zaidi, Executive Director, IBA Karachi; Dr. Ishrat Husain, Chairman CEIF, IBA; Ms. Sima Kamil, Deputy Governor, State Bank of Pakistan; Mr. Aamir Khan, Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan; Mr. Irfan Siddiqui, CEO Meezan Bank; Mr. Rizwan Husain, CEO, Salaam Takaful; Dr. Muhammad Imran, Head, Bank Alfalah Islamic; Mr. Yusuf Hussain, CEO, Faysal Bank Ltd; and a visionary address delivered by Mufti Shaikh Taqi Usmani. Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman also delivered keynote address on Day 1. Additional keynote addresses were delivered by Mr. Omar Mustafa Ansari, Secretary General, (AAOIFI), Bahrain; Ms. Sadia Khan, Commissioner, SECP; Mr. Mohammad Farrukh Raza, Chairman, AAOIFI Governance & Ethics Board, Group CEO, IFAAS; Dr. Ahmet F. Aysan, Professor & Program Coordinator of Islamic Finance and Economy, HBKU; and Syed Amir Ali, CEO, Bank Islami at the Day 2 of the conference.

The conference was addressed by His Excellency, Finance Minister of Pakistan, Dr. Miftah Ismail; and Acting Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, Dr. Murtaza Syed, who joined online to deliver their speeches. They appreciated the efforts of IBA CEIF and accepted the role of Islamic finance in expanding financial inclusion, and uplifting the social, economic and financial situations in communities locally and globally for attaining the envisaged goal of global prosperity.

The first session on 'Implementing Industry vision' was moderated by Mr. Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, with Syed Samar Hasnain, Executive Director, State Bank of Pakistan as the Session Chair. The panelists included Mr. Irfan Siddiqui; Mr. Junaid Ahmed, CEO, Dubai Islamic Bank, Pakistan; Mr. Yusuf Hussain; Syed Amir Ali; Mr. Muhammad Afaq Khan, President, MCB Islamic Bank; Mr. Khurram Hilal, CEO, Islamic Banking, Standard Chartered Bank, UAE; Mr. Rafe Haneef, CEO, GTB, CIMB Bank Berhad, Malaysia; Dr. Yahia Abdul Rahman, CEO, Lariba Banking Group, USA, CEO, Bank of Whittier, NA; and Dr. Muhammad Imran, Group Head Islamic Banking, Bank Alfalah.

The second session on 'Trajectory of the Fintech Ecosystem' was moderated by Mr. Ashar Nazim, CEO, Aion Digital and Mr. Ghulam Muhammad Abbasi, Director Islamic Banking, State Bank of Pakistan as the Session Chair. The panelists included Datuk Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, President, Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance Professionals, Malaysia; Mr. Mohammad Farrukh, Dr. Humayon Dar, Chairman, Cambridge – Edbiz Group of Companies; Mr. Rafe Haneef, Dr. Zeeshan Ahmed, Dean, Al Qadir University; and Dr. Rizwan Malik, Head, Standards Implementation & Strategic Developments AAOIFI, Bahrain.

The third session on 'Game Changers for Islamic Capital Markets and Takaful' was moderated by Mr. Muhammad Farhan ul Haq Usmani, Head of Shariah Audit & Advisory, Meezan Bank and Mr. Farrukh Khan, CEO & MD, Pakistan Stock Exchange as the Session Chair. The panelists included Muhammad Shoaib CFA, CEO, Al Meezan Investment Management Limited; Mr. Azeem Pirani, CEO, Pak-Qatar Family Takaful; Mufti Irshad Ahmad Aijaz, Chairman & Shari'ah Scholar Member, Shari'ah Advisory Committee, State Bank of Pakistan; Chairman Shari'ah Board, Salaam Takaful; Chairman Shari'ah Board, Bank Islami Pakistan Limited; Dr. Mohamad Akram Laldin, Executive Director, International Shariah Research Academy (ISRA), Malaysia; and Syed Nayyar Hussain, Executive Director, Salaam Takaful Limited.

The fourth session on 'Future of Islamic Finance' was moderated and chaired by Mr. Omar Mustafa Ansari. The panelists included Dr. Imran Ashraf Usmani, Vice Chairman – Shari'ah Board, Meezan Bank Limited; Dr. Hatim El Tahir, Director Islamic Finance Group, Islamic Finance Knowledge Center Leader, Deloitte & Touche, Bahrain; Dr. Yahia Abdul Rahman; Mufti Abdullah Najeeb Siddiqui, Resident Shari'ah Board Member, AlBarakah Bank Pakistan Limited; Mr. Adnan Fasih, Group Head Islamic Banking, Habib Bank, AG Zurich; and Mr. Muhammad Nassir Saleem, Acting Head Islamic Banking, Habib Bank Limited.

The fifth session was conducted on 'Islamic Finance Education: Past – Present – Future' was moderated by Dr. Irum Saba and Prof. Dr. Necdet Sensoy, Director, Research Centre for Islamic Economics & Economic Systems, Istanbul Commerce University as the Session Chair. The panelists included Dr. Shafiullah Jan, Assistant Professor, Institute of Management Sciences; Dr. Syed Aun R. Rizvi, Associate Dean, Suleman Dawood School of Business, LUMS; Dr. Mohamed Eskandar Shah Mohd. Rasid, Associate Professor, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU); Prof. Dr. Rusni Hassan, Professor, Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance, IIUM; Dr. Aishath Muneeza, Associate Professor, INCEIF; and Dr. Ahmet F. Aysan, Professor & Program Coordinator of Islamic Finance and Economy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, College of Islamic Studies, Qatar Foundation.

The sixth session on 'Expanding the Islamic Finance Horizon' was moderated and chaired by Mr. Mohammad Farrukh Raza. The panelists included Muhammad Faisal Shaikh, Head Islamic Banking, Faysal Bank Limited; Mr. Rafe Haneef; Dr. Aishath Muneeza; Dr. Mohamed Eskandar Shah Mohd. Rasid; and Mr. Tanveer Farhan Mahmood, Head – Islamic Banking, UBL.

The concluding power session was held with the Islamic Finance Visionaries which consisted of panelists including Dr. Ishrat Husain, Mr. Irfan Siddiqui, Mr. Yousaf Husain, Mr. Junaid Ahmed, Dr. Muhammad Imran, Dr. Yahia Abdul Rahman, Mr. Omar Mustafa Ansari, and Prof. Dr. Rusni Hassan. The session was moderated by Mr. Ahmed Ali Siddiqui.

In addition to aforementioned sessions, 2 additional closed-door sessions were held on 'Leveraging the modern technology to enhance and promote Islamic Finance' and 'Challenges faced by IFIs in Ensuring Shari'ah Compliance'. In the closed-door session arranged for Shariah Scholars, Prof. Dr. Akram Laldin, Executive Director, ISRA delivered his address and Mufti Irshad and Mufti Najeeb were speakers. The session was moderated by Dr. Irum Saba. During this session, in the presence of 40 shariah scholars of Islamic finance industry, Dr. Irum Saba announced the launch of Shariah Scholar Forum in Pakistan which was another achievement of the conference. The conference further had 2 sessions during which 12 papers were selected out of the total papers submitted, chaired by Dr. Aishath Muneeza, and Dr. Mohamed Eskandar Shah Mohd. Rasid. The final achievement of the conference was the launch of Ishrat Husain Best Paper Award announced by Dr. Zaidi to honor the services of Dr. Ishrat in the development of Islamic Finance at IBA.