Islamic finance has lagged behind in Real Estate Investment Trust comparing with the growth in conventional REIT, according to a top official at the IIFM.
Ijlal Ahmed Alvi, Chief Executive Officer, at Bahrain-based International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) told the media on Tuesday that IIFM would discuss REIT topic during the 20th Edition of the WIBC later this year.
“The International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) will be hosting a pre-conference seminar on Islamic Capital and Money Markets. Speaking about the pre-conference seminar,” Alvi said.
“While Islamic banking has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past few years, there is undoubtedly substantial room for the industry to expand further particularly in the Islamic Capital and Money Market segment. Over the years, the Islamic finance industry has developed a diverse range of financial products throughout the key markets of the Middle East, Europe and Asia. There are exciting times ahead for the global Islamic finance industry with increasing interest from more countries to allow Shari’ah compliant banking and also from key financial centres keen to support its growth,” he added.
“An interesting trend that we have been noticing now is an increasing number of Sukuk issuances in non-local currency, such as an issuer based in the UAE issuing a Sukuk in Malaysian Ringgit, or an issuer based in Malaysia issuing a Sukuk in Chinese Yuan and so on. Another positive development is issuance of perpetual Sukuk both by corporate as well as financial institution for strengthening their capital base. These trends highlight the rapid global growth of Islamic finance – though, in terms of Sukuk, there is lot of room for further growth and innovation, including for instance more issuance of Sukuk for infrastructure projects.”
“Though the Islamic Financial Services Industry has now established itself as a viable alternative financial system, the Islamic Capital and Money Markets in many OIC jurisdictions are still in the infancy to development phases. Given the Islamic finance industry’s strong inter-linkages with the global financial system, it is necessary that the Islamic Capital and Money Markets develop the key products to meet the needs of the industry which are a pre-requisite to bring a risk-sharing approach in our industry.”
“IIFM will be hosting an industry seminar at the 20th Anniversary World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC 2013) and we would like to invite global leaders in Islamic finance to join us for critical discussions on the way forward in the development of a sound Islamic Capital and Money Market, which is essential for the comprehensive development of the Islamic finance industry globally,” Alvi said.