Manama: Mahmood Rafique, Editor: The stage is set for the 26th World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC) on Tuesday at the Gulf Hotel on Tuesday with over 1000 delegates in attendance including regulators, industry leaders, bankers and experts.
Being held under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) is supporting the WIBC 2019 as a strategic partner.
The annual WIBC is the flagship offering of Middle East Global Advisors (MEGA) and the largest and most prestigious gathering of Islamic banking and finance leaders in the world and has emerged as a must attend event for global banking industry.
The WIBC has emerged into a global spectacle that has brought some of the sharpest minds under one roof, attracting a wide array of speakers from across the globe.
Over three-days, global industry leaders, policy makers, innovators and stakeholders will focus on the theme of “mega trends in banking and finance” in line with its steady vision to serve as a compass for the global Islamic finance and banking industry.
The pre-conference workshops on Monday was attended by over 200 delegates and during various sessions experts, regulators and industry heavy weights deliberated upon the Islamic banking industry’s growth, opportunities and challenges.
“Over a quarter of a century, the WIBC has emerged as an ideal platform for senior executives to deliberate on strategies, regulations, and market trends to navigate through the uncertain economic climate,” Ehsan Abbas, Chairman, Middle East Global Advisors, in a pre-conference, said.
“The discussions over the course of the conference will prove even more critical to better understand the shifting economic, demographical, technological and regulatory landscape,” he said, adding that the 26th edition of the WIBC is a testament to its continued significance as an indisputable compass for the industry to gather and share critical insights going forward.
“The conference this year will promote standardization and harmonization of the Islamic Finance standards, value-creation via mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and consolidation, sizing up the sukuk market and 360-degree solutions to industry challenges.”
“Every year at the WIBC we have addressed the most pressing issues facing the Islamic banking industry. This year’s edition will focus on harmonization of Islamic finance standards, the digital transformation, sustainable finance and M&A and consolidation in the GCC region. There will be a special session on where the industry is heading with respect to the objectives of Shari’ah. International experts will share their expertise and assessment about the global economic outlook while focusing on the opportunities, challenges and way forward for the Islamic finance presented by the Belt and Road Initiative of China. As in earlier years, WIBC will also host a CEOs’ power table to discuss what keeps the CEOs awake at night. The format adopted for most sessions is panel discussion with allocated time for answering questions from the audience. The conference will also provide an excellent networking opportunity to individuals and a platform for companies to exhibit their services and solutions,” Khalid Hamad Abdul-Rahman Hamad, Executive Director Banking Supervision at the Central Bank of Bahrain, said.
WIBC has annually reaffirmed its reputation in generating breakthrough thought leadership. Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria will deliver the keynote address at the 26th WIBC that will be followed by an on-stage interview with Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor, Central Bank of Bahrain. Other confirmed speakers at WIBC includes Yasmeen Al Sharaf, Head, Fintech Unit, Central Bank of Bahrain; Hassan Jarrar, Chief Executive Officer, Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB); Nitish Bhojnagarwala, Vice President – Senior Credit Officer, Financial Institutions Group, Moody’s Investors Services Middle East Limited; Bashar Al Natoor, Global Head Islamic Finance, Fitch Ratings; Mustafa Adil, Head of Islamic Finance, Refinitiv and Omar Mustafa Ansari, Secretary General, Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), among others.
Industry leaders will also be recognized for their excellence through the WIBC Performance Awards 2019, the nominees of which will be announced weeks before the December event, and the winners at the Gala Dinner on Tuesday. This year’s performance awards will see a special award conferred on “Islamic Banker of the Year.”
Over the last few years, a key focus area for WIBC has always been to connect the industry with leading pioneers and innovators in the FinTech space and forge a fresh, innovative and technology-enabled phase of the industry’s development. In the age of rapid financial advancements, Bahrain, the host nation of WIBC for the past 26 years has emerged as a global leader in Islamic finance, with the CBB continuing to provide strong support to the financial industry by actively shaping the fintech of the region. A number of initiatives that have been launched include the Bahrain FinTech Bay, the Regulatory Sandbox, Crowdfunding Regulations, a cloud-first policy and crypto-asset regulations, among others.
