Day One

08:30 Registration and Morning Refreshments

09:00 Chairman's Opening Remarks

Keith Mullin, Editor-in-Chief, IFR

09:15 Outlook for Islamic capital markets

• Changing trends in the Islamic capital markets
•  Can the critical mass of Shariah compliant instruments support a functioning, efficient and liquid market?
• What innovations, products and structures will we see emerging? Equity, debt and bank lending
• What legal and regulatory issues need to be resolved to facilitate market growth?
• Role of the borrowers, investors and intermediaries in developing the Islamic capital markets

Andrew Dell, Managing Director, Head of Emerging Market Debt, HSBC
Ziad Awad, Managing Director, Head of Debt Capital Markets, Merrill Lynch
Walid Sarieddine, Executive Director, WestLB
Afaq Khan, CEO, Standard Chartered Saadiq

09:55 Islamic Banking: Developing a thriving and homogenous Islamic banking system

• How is the market environment changing?
• Is progress in achieving governance standards and practices being achieved?
• Have we seen religious arbitrage?
• What impact will the growing prominence of international banks have on the Islamic capital markets?
• How can regional Islamic banks respond to the international banks?

Irfan Siddiqui, President and Chief Executive Officer, Al Meezan Bank Limited
Abdulrazzak Elkhraijy, Head of Islamic Banking Development Group, National Commercial Bank

10:35 Coffee Break

11:00 Investor: Key considerations and criteria for investing in Islamic compliant securities

• Why include sukuk in the investment manager’s portfolio?
• Sovereign vs corporate vs financial institution sukuk: key differences and preferences for the investor
• The emergence of a more sophisticated investor of Islamic financial products emerging - how are the banks responding?
• Role and influence of Islamic sovereign wealth funds on capital markets

Ravi Narayanan, Director, Financial Control & Monitoring, Aref Investment Group
Mohammad Tariq, Treasurer & Head of Investments, Islamic Development Bank

11:40 Issuer: Islamic debt issuance as a capital markets funding strategy

• Rationale and motives for sukuk issuance as a source of finance
• Risks associated with sukuk issuance
• Ensuring costs of issuance are minimised
• How to approach Islamic investors
• Where to list? GCC versus South East Asia versus European markets

George Iosifyan, Managing Director, Member of the Board, BTA Bank
Antoine Decitre, Managing Director, Velcan Energy

12:20 Lunch

14:00 Sukuk: Sukuk update - market opportunities and trends

• With the increased costs of borrowing in conventional markets, what has been the impact on sukuk issuance?
• Impact of Western and Asian institutions seeking exposure to to Gulf Arab economies
• Examination of new structures for sukuk
• Can sukuk homogeny be achieved?
• Will a vibrant secondary market emerge?
• Anticipated opportunities in sovereign sukuk
• Trends in corporate sukuk

Anouar Hassoune, Senior Credit Officer, Islamic Banking, Moody’s Middle East
Andreas Jobst, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, International Monetary Fund
Khalid Howladar, Senior Credit Officer, Asset Backed and Sukuk Finance, Moody’s Middle East

14:40 Derivatives: Developing Islamic derivative products

• Islamic sector applications for derivatives
• Views on regulatory treatment derivatives in light of Islamic law
• Difficulties in developing Sharia compliant products
• Gaining scholar acceptance
• Developing a master agreement for Sharia compliant derivative products
• How does documentation differ from more conventional products?
• What type of instruments will emerge?

 Peter Werner, Policy Director, International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA)

15:20 Coffee Break

15:45 Loans: Islamic Loans Market

• Effects of the credit crunch
• Factors affecting loan pricing, spreads and yields
• Constraints and obstacles specific to the Islamic loan market
• Approaches to currency and loan structuring

 John McWall, Head of Syndications, Arab Banking Corporation

16:20 Project Finance: Financing GCC projects via Islamic Capital Markets

• Role of Islamic financing in funding major GCC projects?
• Benefits and challenges of financing projects via Shariah compliant instruments, the issuer and project sponsor’s perspective
• Case study – King Abdulaziz International Airport (Hajj Terminal)

Patrick OD Mgbenwelu, Managing Director, Project and Corporate Finance Advisory Division, Gulf One Investment Bank

17:00 End of Day One

Day Two

08:30 Registration and Morning Refreshments

09:00 Chairman's Opening Remarks

Keith Mullin, Editor-in-Chief, IFR

09:15 HEDGE FUNDS: Dubai chooses a Shariah platform for hedge fund investing

• Why has the Dubai Government taken a leadership role in Islamic finance and a defining role in seeding the world’s first Shariah compliant fund of funds? 
• Have Islamic hedge funds come of age with the DMCC’s seed of $250 million into 5 shariah compliant hedge funds?
• What are key ingredients necessary for a Shariah compliant hedge fund platform? 
• How does Shariah augment a manager’s conventional product offerings?  What does Dubai Shariah Asset Management (DSAM) offer?
• How does performance differ from conventional performance?

 Eric Meyer, Chairman and CEO, Shariah Capital Inc

09:55 SHARIAH SCHOLAR: Addressing the perceived growing disquiet regarding compliance with religious law

• Schools of thought regarding equity investments made in companies which may breach Shariah law whilst carrying out business activities
• Concerns over the shortage of qualified scholars to provide rigorous guidance
• When will a new wave of scholars come through and will it be sufficient to meet demand?
• Are banks going to the lowest school of thought on Islam?
• To what extent are diverging schools of Islamic thought converging towards a consistent view of Shariah compliant capital markets?

Mufti Barkatulla, Member of Shariah Supervisory Panel

10:35 Coffee Break

11.00 RISK PANEL: Assessing risk challenges in Islamic Capital Markets

•  What are the difficulties in making comparisons between differing Islamic institutions, and Islamic institutions and their conventional peers?
• Developing a risk methodology for sukuk
• Overcoming balance sheet management risks
• Developing strong governance frameworks in line with international standards
• Tax risk: how are economically identical products treated differently in an Islamic and conventional bank in the same country?

 
Warren Edwardes, Chief Executive, Delphi Risk Management and Governor, Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance
Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad
Jawad Ali, Partner, King & Spalding
Andreas Jobst, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, International Monetary Fund

11:40 Financial Hubs of Islamic Finance: Establishing London as the leading western centre for Islamic Finance

•  Reforms that have paved the way for the creation of Shariah compliant banks and products in the UK
• Why are Middle East issuers coming to the London market when the richest Muslim investors are based in the gulf?
• Threat posed by the other financial districts around the world to London's position

 Patrick Lamb, Deputy Chief Executive, International Financial Services London (IFSL)

12:20 Chairman's Closing Remarks, Questions and Answers 

12:30 Lunch and Close of Conference