LAHORE: Islamic finance professionals, academics and researchers on Tuesday gathered at the Global Forum on Islamic Finance (GFIF) 2018, a two-day conference organised by the Centre of Islamic Finance of the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology.
The participants discussed political and socio-economic developments, their impact on the performance and future position of Islamic financial institutions, regulatory set-ups, and popularity of the Islamic financial products being offered to the public and private sector.
Punjab Governor Rafique Rajwana also took part in the conference. He emphasised that there was a need to promote Islamic financial system in the country as an alternative financial system to support economic growth in the country.
GFIF 2018 welcomed diversified participants from academia, financial institutions, corporate sector, industries, potential clients, and the government, who shared their experiences, learning, and research in Islamic finance.
The event included notables such as IDB Laureate in Islamic Finance and Professor of Islamic Finance at the University of New Orleans Dr Kabir Hassan, Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) member Dr Tamsir Cham, IDB Professor Dr Akram Laldin, ISRA Malaysia Executive Director, Islamic International University Professor Dr Dzuljastri Abdul Razak, Islamic Finance Council of the UK member Umer Suleman, CEO IFAAS UK Farrukh Raza, and Head of the NBP Shariah Board Aitemaad Mufti Ehsan Waquar.
The event will also hold a policy roundtable meeting in which stakeholders from the State Bank of Pakistan, heads of the Islamic banks, members of the Centre for Islamic Finance, and Shariah advisers will participate to devise policies for future growth of the Islamic finance industry.
The conference will cover topics relevant to the Islamic financial instruments development, the sources of uses of funds in Islamic banks, equity financing, Islamic perspective of cryptocurrency, customer relationship between the conventional and Islamic banks, risk management, Islamic microfinance, and achieving UN Sustainable Goals etc.
The second Islamic Finance Excellence Awards will also be held at the GFIF 2018 to honour the best achievers in the Islamic finance industry.
