11th December 2023
Riyadh
#IFNKSA2023
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LIMITED / EXCLUSIVE SEATING
About The Dialogues
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whose Vision 2030 objectives prominently feature the advancement of Islamic finance, maintains its position as the world’s largest holder of Islamic financial assets. The Kingdom continues to prioritize Islamic finance with initiatives that incentivize the sector and recognize innovation. In the past year, the Saudi government has reaffirmed its aim to become a global Islamic finance hub by 2030.
The domestic Islamic banking sector has seen significant change in recent years, with bank mergers creating large, well-capitalized financial institutions with regional ambitions. The Kingdom has a thriving Islamic fintech scene, with nine fintech companies licensed by the central bank, all of which provide Islamic solutions. After four years of detailed planning, one of the three digital bank licensees plan to launch operations shortly.
The Saudi Arabian Islamic capital market continues to burn bright. Since overtaking Malaysia as the world’s biggest Sukuk issuer, Saudi Arabia has completed numerous significant Sukuk issuances, including the US$6 billion debut deal from Saudi Aramco and a US$750 million sustainable Sukuk facility from the newly merged SNB. The Kingdom is home to the largest number of Islamic funds worldwide, holding 34% of total Islamic fund assets under management. The Saudi Exchange lists 252 mutual funds and 17 Islamic REITs, and the Kingdom is featured in the MSCI and FTSE Russell indices.
IFN returns to Saudi Arabia for the ninth time, with the second edition of our unique IFN Dialogues format, exploring opportunities and challenges in one of the most influential Islamic finance markets globally.
IFN KSA Dialogues are a series of extended conversations featuring leading industry players, identifying and analyzing key issues facing Islamic finance in Saudi Arabia. The two Dialogues focus on the growing influence of Islamic banking, finance and capital markets; and the role of private equity and direct investment in the development of strategic projects and infrastructure in the Kingdom.
WHAT THEY SAID
The efforts of IFN in bringing together sustainable elements in Islamic finance and in driving the panel discussion toward blitz-scaling the current efforts in Islamic finance were truly commendable. Over the course of the entire session, the focus was on identifying a common sustainability playbook in the existing Shariah compliant Islamic financial structure. During this session, we discussed the significance of regulators, market players and the trends influencing the implementation of ESG pillars for Islamic finance. Panel discussions concluded with discussions on strategies for driving and converging sustainability to Shariah compliant Islamic finance structures in the future.
The panel discussion on Islamic sustainable and responsible investing brought together a good blend of stakeholders from various aspects of the industry including Islamic finance, sustainable investing, ESG advisory, insurance, banking, legal and projects. This made the discussion very interesting and insightful, bringing different perspectives to the table.
This prestigious event carried out interesting discussions on the Islamic finance landscape in Saudi Arabia and provided business networking opportunities for industry stakeholders. The analytical insights shared by the panelists into the development, growth and challenges of its constituent sectors, including Islamic banking, Islamic capital markets, Waqf and Islamic fintech are thought-provoking. I congratulate the organizers for successfully hosting this event in the globally largest Islamic finance industry by asset size.
We enjoyed participation from lawyers, bankers, regulators and clients at IFN Dialogue Riyadh. The quality was impressive, thanks to the good reputation and skills of the organizers. Over time, these events make a difference; our industry adapts and changes because our professional community stays more coherent because of these events.
IFN has done it again. Getting together Islamic finance influencers to assure the free flow of ideas and information. This is how innovations in our field are born. Bringing in the financiers from GCC, Europe and Southeast Asia is a great recipe for the effective distribution of intellectual products. Kudos to the organizers for a perfectly assembled event
An Introduction to 2023
We were delighted to be back in the conference rooms in 2022 following a near two-year hiatus, and it seems you were too.
We saw capacity audiences for the UK, Asia and Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment Forums, and strong numbers everywhere else. We believe 2023 will surpass pre-pandemic numbers in all our core markets.
We have also learned much this past year and will implement the following:
- The Forum format is essential in certain markets, and will remain in London, Muscat and Kuala Lumpur in 2023.
- Our exclusive Dialogues have been warmly welcomed by all those participating and attending, and we will increase this offering in 2023, with events in Dubai, Riyadh, Doha, Jakarta, and Manama.
- Live streaming has not taken off as many expected. However, watching recorded content has skyrocketed — certainly for us anyway. So, all Forums will be recorded and posted online for our global audience within a week of each event.
- But, as our audiences enjoy recorded content, we will be organizing various country and sector ‘OnAir’ events and posting online for all to view.
- Islamic sustainable is big. Our ISFI Forum in Kuala Lumpur in 2022 was outstanding and will remain for 2023. And, with COP28 in the UAE in 2023, we are introducing the ISFI Dialogues, which will be held in Dubai.
We are excited for the new year and look forward to welcoming you to our events and assisting in the continued global growth of the Islamic financial markets.
#IFNDIALOGUES2023
Dialogues Agenda
9.15 – 9.20
Welcome Address
9.20 – 9.30
Keynote Address
9.30 – 11.30
Dialogue One: Building a Nation – the Growing Influence of Islamic Finance and Banking in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
- What are the notable recent achievements and milestones of Saudi Arabian Shariah compliant markets and how do regulatory environments influence growth and development?
- Development of the Saudi Arabian Islamic finance markets: increasing market depth and liquidity, driving innovation in hybrid, perpetual, restructuring and syndicated transactions, and Islamic capital markets versus bank funding.
- Applying Shariah compliant structures to the funding of clean energy projects and infrastructure and in the shift away from hydrocarbons.
- How can Shariah compliant transition, sustainable and sustainability linked financing products be further incorporated into the Saudi market?
- What are notable recent milestones and key developments within Saudi Arabian Islamic banking, what is the current outlook for the sector and how do prudential regulatory environments allow for growth?
- Do Tier-1 and Tier-2 Sukuk still offer Saudi Islamic financial institutions an effective way of satisfying regulatory capital requirements, and do we feel the same about AT1 issuances as we did before?
- What other funding options are open to Saudi Arabian Islamic financial institutions, and what liquidity management tools are available?
- The digitalization of Islamic financial services: what is working, what is not, and what this means for the transformation of Islamic financial services in the Kingdom.
- The growing prominence of Islamic P2P and equity crowdfunding in the Kingdom, and the opportunities these activities offer.
- Is it feasible to require Saudi Arabian Islamic banks to incorporate ESG frameworks as part of a wider Islamic banking philosophy?
- How can Islamic banking be further applied to social impact initiatives and are local banks doing enough in the development of sustainable retail, corporate and commercial products?
Ahsan Ali, Managing Director and Head, Islamic Origination, Standard Chartered Saadiq
Fabrice Susini, CEO, Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company
Gregor Paterson, Chief Investment Officer, National Development Fund (NDF)
Line Bitar, Senior Manager Project Finance and M&A, ACWA Power
11.30 – 12:00
Coffee
12:00 – 14.00
Dialogue Two: Towards Saudi Vision 2030 - Developing Strategic Projects and Infrastructure through Shariah Compliant Investment
- Saudi Arabian bilateral Shariah compliant investment – latest trends, investment types, asset classes and opportunities.
- Potential targets for private equity investment in the Saudi market, and the role of privatization.
- Opportunities for Shariah compliant investment in the Kingdom through Public-Private Partnerships, and the role of government-driven mega projects.
- The latest opportunities and demands for Shariah compliant direct investment into Saudi Arabian real estate market.
- The growth, development and performance of the Saudi Arabian Real Estate Investment Trust market.
- Other potential areas for investment of Shariah compliant capital into and out of Saudi Arabia.
- The principal structures used to facilitate Shariah compliant investment in Saudi Arabia, and other structures that could potentially be employed.
- What roles do insurance for investment and export credit and other forms of guarantees play?
- How do we effectively balance climate and investment risk and where do ESG considerations play a role in investment decisions?
- What represent Shariah compliant investment opportunities in the financing of low-carbon technologies and renewable energy in the Kingdom?
- Continuing the development of effective ESG and sustainable investment taxonomies and regulatory frameworks in Saudi Arabia.
- Assessing the increasing influence of Waqf in fund and investment management structures in the Kingdom.
Khurram Waheed, Managing Director, Corporate Finance, Dalma Capital
Dr Mohammed Ishaq Ali, Head of Equity Funds, ANB Invest
Mohammed Srhiri, Vice-President, Financial Markets Advisory, BlackRock
14.00
Luncheon
Dialogues Speakers
Ahsan Ali
Managing Director and Head, Islamic Origination, Standard Chartered SaadiqAhsan Ali is responsible for the global Islamic corporate and institutional banking business at Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). Since joining SCB in March 2004, he has built this business from inception and has led several award-winning and industry-defining transactions. Ahsan has over 24 years of experience in the financial services industry, of which the last 14 have been in Islamic banking.
Ahsan holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and a degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in addition to a CFA [chartered financial analyst] designation.
Fabrice Susini
CEO, Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company
Gregor Paterson
Gregor Paterson, Chief Investment Officer, National Development Fund (NDF)
Khurram Waheed
Managing Director, Corporate Finance, Dalma CapitalKhurram Waheed is a seasoned advisor and corporate financer with over 20 years of green and conventional energy, healthcare, infrastructure and sustainability experience. Throughout his career, Khurram has been involved in or led advisory in several transactions in the Middle East, Africa, Turkey, Europe and Asia in sectors ranging from oil and gas, power and water, healthcare and life sciences, infrastructure and mobility/transportation.
Based in Dubai in the UAE, Khurram is the managing director of corporate finance at Dalma Capital which was founded in 2011, and is a firm engaged in asset management and is a boutique investment bank. He leads the green, healthcare and infrastructure advisory business for the firm.
Prior to joining Dalma, Khurram served as the executive director of international banking for First Abu Dhabi Bank and has worked with other international banks like Barclays and Emirates NBD.
Khurram has an Executive Master’s in Finance degree with distinction (top 10%) from HEC, Paris and also has an MBA with a specialization in finance and marketing from ICFAI Business School.
Line Bitar
Senior Manager Project Finance and M&A, ACWA PowerLine has over 6 years extensive experience in financial service industry including project finance structuring, execution and divestiture in the infrastructure sector gained across Middle East, Africa and Asia. She has raised over USD 2.5bn from diverse set of commercial and development financial institutions for both renewable and desalination projects including:
- FEWA IWP 150MIGD (UAE)
- Tashkent and Samarkand 1400MW PV + 1500MWh BESS (Uzbekistan)
- DAO 150MW PV + BESS + ICE (South Africa)
- Khalladi 120MW Wind refinancing (Morocco)
She was also involved in the divestment of 49% stake in a portfolio of PV and Wind assets with a combined capacity of 1,668MW with assets located in the UAE, South Africa, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco to China state-owned Silk Road Fund (SRF). Prior to joining ACWA Power, she worked with BNP Paribas Investment Bank, Dubai where she focused on M&A opportunities in Middle East and Africa. She holds a Master degree in Management and Msc in Corporate Finance from EDHEC Business School as well as a Master in Business Law from Université Pantheon La Sorbonne (Paris, France).
Dr Mohammed Ishaq Ali
Head of Equity Funds, ANB InvestDr Mohammed Ishaq Ali is a professional with extensive experience in the field of investment management with several organizations across Saudi Arabia and India. He has a successful track record of managing Shariah compliant mutual funds and discretionary portfolios, consistently outperforming the market, peer groups and benchmarks.
Dr Mohammed’s core expertise involves the formulation of investment strategies, asset allocations and portfolio diversification though quantitative screening, macro assessment and stock-specific ideas. He is active in industry/market research to identify mispriced assets in any conditions of the market. His capability to manage risk and comply with regulatory frameworks and Shariah guidelines is invaluable to asset management departments.
Dr Mohammed has a distinct record of teaching MBA and CFA students in the areas of corporate finance and investments, apart from providing training to investment bankers. He has authored books, published articles and presented papers in various conferences and seminars.
Mohammed Srhiri
Vice-President, Financial Markets Advisory, BlackRockMohammed SRHIRI is a seasoned infrastructure investments professional with over 10 years of green and conventional project financing and investing. Throughout his career, Mohammed has been involved in several infrastructure transactions (extending across the capital structure) in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia in sectors ranging from oil and gas, power and water, and mobility/transportation.
Based in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Mohammed is a Vice-President at BlackRock, specializing in infrastructure investments and advisory. Prior to joining BlackRock, Mohammed served as executive manager at ACWA Power, leading the financial closing of water desalination and renewable energy assets in KSA.
Mohammed has a Master’s Degree in Management and Corporate Finance from ESCP, Paris as well as a Master’s Degree in Islamic Finance from IE Business School, Madrid.
Advisory Board
Bilal Kahlon
Partner &Head of Finance - Saudi Arabia, Trowers & HamlinsBilal is a partner in the firm’s Bahrain office.
Bilal has over 10 years of experience in banking and finance matters in the Gulf region with a particular expertise in project finance, Islamic finance and debt capital markets.
Bilal leads our Saudi finance practice and has consistently been recognised as a leading lawyer in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain by international legal directories including Chambers and Partners, Legal 500 and IFLR. Having grown up in Bahrain, Bilal has strong ties with Bahrain and the Gulf region as a whole. Bilal is admitted to practice in England.
Maya Marissa Malek
CEO, Amanie AdvisorsMaya Marissa Malek is the managing director/CEO of Amanie Advisors’s global office, based in Dubai. Maya is a multiple award-winning Islamic finance expert and executive leader (also recognized as one of the ‘Top 50 Most Influential Women in Middle East Finance’ by Financial News UK of Dow Jones Group) with extensive experience driving strategic planning and collaboration with key industry players — including regulators, corporates, banks and standard-setting bodies.
Maya skillfully bridges efforts of diverse regulatory and structural groups — identifying and targeting performance/operations gaps — and is equipped with a history of success working closely with globally-renowned Shariah scholars while creating awareness of Islamic finance worldwide. Her profession in and passion for Islamic finance has taken her around the globe creating awareness on Islamic finance, and innovating and creating demand for Islamic finance to take root. She is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance Professionals, a member of the Green Sukuk Working Group in the UAE and a Shariah consultant for the International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group and a frequent Islamic finance speaker at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs in the UK, the world’s most influential think tank.
Mike Tirman
Partner, Ice MillerMike Tirman is a partner in Ice Miller’s Real Estate Group and advises and represents clients in all areas of real estate law, including acquisitions and dispositions, financing (including various forms of Shariah compliant financing), ground leasing, development, land use and zoning, entity structuring and joint ventures.
Some of Mike’s representative transactions include, among others, representing a buyer in a US$195 million Shariah compliant acquisition and CMBS financing of a portfolio of 30 industrial properties, representing a landlord in a US$104 million refinance of a portfolio of four industrial properties in New Jersey encumbered by ground leases and representing a REIT in a US$30 million acquisition of a parking garage and execution of a reverse 1031 exchange.
Mike is licensed to practice law in Illinois and Indiana.
Dr Mohammed Ishaq Ali
Head of Equity Funds, ANB InvestDr Mohammed Ishaq Ali is a professional with extensive experience in the field of investment management with several organizations across Saudi Arabia and India. He has a successful track record of managing Shariah compliant mutual funds and discretionary portfolios, consistently outperforming the market, peer groups and benchmarks.
Dr Mohammed’s core expertise involves the formulation of investment strategies, asset allocations and portfolio diversification though quantitative screening, macro assessment and stock-specific ideas. He is active in industry/market research to identify mispriced assets in any conditions of the market. His capability to manage risk and comply with regulatory frameworks and Shariah guidelines is invaluable to asset management departments.
Dr Mohammed has a distinct record of teaching MBA and CFA students in the areas of corporate finance and investments, apart from providing training to investment bankers. He has authored books, published articles and presented papers in various conferences and seminars.
Dialogues Partners
PARTNERS
DDCAP Group
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in London, with an office in Dubai and a presence in both Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, DDCAP is a leading provider of asset facilitation services and financial technology and system solutions across a diverse range of Shariah compliant products, asset classes and instruments in both the primary and secondary markets. DDCAP’s wholly-owned subsidiaries include DD&Co and DDGI. DDCAP has an extensive track record within the Islamic finance industry, employing over 35 professionals with broad and complementary skill sets drawn from diverse financial industry backgrounds, focused principally on providing service to Islamic financial market participants around the world. DDCAP has its own Shariah supervisory board comprising esteemed Shariah scholars from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Kuwait. DDCAP’s multi-award-winning Shariah compliant ETHOS Asset Facilitation Platform is a bespoke, real-time trade and post-trade services platform providing 24-hour coverage, enabling clients worldwide to purchase from a diverse asset inventory, including commodities, via a secure, web-based portal.
IdealRatings
IdealRatings was incorporated in 2006 in San Francisco with a corporate objective to provide SRI/ESG and Shariah compliant solutions to ethical investors and enable them to identify such instruments across different asset classes in the global market. IdealRatings serves clients in over 30 countries with a range of capital market solutions including:
- Equities – A web-based platform covering over 40,000 stocks, where fund managers can screen equities using different, custom-built ESG/SRI/Responsible Investments and Shariah rulebooks or guidelines. This solution caters to different purification calculation methodologies with a comprehensive set of reports for fund managers to manage their portfolio.
- REITs – Global coverage of all listed REITs that could be screened in accordance with different standard Shariah rulebooks or guidelines.
- Indexes – Co-branded and jointly marketed by FTSE-Russell Indexes and a separate series with Thomson Reuters for the global markets, designed for fund management and investment benchmarking. In addition, IdealRatings is able to provide custom-built indexes for the fund management industry.
- Sukuk – A unique solution which includes the global Sukuk and a pioneering Sukuk-screening solution that enables fund managers to customize their Sukuk selection in accordance to their Shariah rulebook, guidelines or investment preference, and
- Brokerage – The solution provides broking houses the ability to screen global equity markets, a technical analysis of the markets and equities, buy/sell/hold recommendations and purification amounts.
Norton Rose Fulbright
Norton Rose Fulbright is a global law firm. Our Islamic finance lawyers have long-standing experience in delivering pioneering legal advice on Islamic finance transactions for Islamic financial institutions, conventional banks and corporates worldwide.
With more than 30 years of experience in Islamic finance law, our lawyers have a wealth of knowledge across a range of Shariah compliant structures, including market-leading experience in Sukuk transactions, Murabahah, Istisnah, Ijarah and Musharakah financings and Takaful deals.
As well as having significant transactional experience, our lawyers regularly advise clients on Shariah governance matters, including advising the government of Dubai on the creation of the first standard code of practice for Islamic finance law, marking the first Islamic law code of practice to be standardized in a legislative framework.
Based in the world’s economic hubs and key Islamic finance centers across the Middle East, Europe, the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia and Africa, our lawyers provide legal advice to governments worldwide on legislation concerning Islamic finance products.
CONSULTANCY PARTNER
Redmoney Consulting
Launched in April 2021, Redmoney Consulting is a new and highly focused advisory firm focusing on global Islamic, Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable Finance. Redmoney Consulting is a logical extension of REDmoney Group, the Islamic finance industry’s leading media house with a truly global audience. In addition to Islamic finance, the Group has steadily increased its coverage of the green and sustainable finance sector as the two markets continue to converge. Redmoney Consulting provides an expansive service allowing its consultants to provide advisory and consulting services at the highest level for the most discerning of clients.
LEAD MEDIA PARTNERS
MEDIA PARTNER
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The Previous IFN KSA Dialogues
IFN KSA Dialogues 2022
An Islamic banking and finance pioneer, with strong governmental support, Saudi Arabia’s Shariah banking industry held a 51.5% share of its domestic market, as of May 2022. The Kingdom showed no signs of slowing down, and with a well-established domestic debt market, it had the benefit of easily issuing local currency Sukuk.
IFN returned to Saudi Arabia for the eighth time to host a new and unique series of IFN Dialogues, exploring the hurdles and opportunities in one of the most active and influential markets in the Islamic financial world.
The IFN KSA Dialogues is a series of extended discussions amongst leading industry players, both domestic and international, to discuss and identify the Kingdom’s most pressing issues.
The three scheduled Dialogues focused on: Islamic Capital Markets, Banking, and Investment; The Convergence of Islamic and Sustainable Investing in the Kingdom; and the role Digital Innovation, Technology and FinTech will play in the KSA.
About REDmoney Events
REDmoney events designs, organizes and hosts industry-leading conferences, forums, roadshows, seminars and dialogues focusing on the Islamic financial markets across a global, regional and national level. Leveraging an exceptional network of the industry’s elite and supported by the expertise of the REDmoney publishing and seminars divisions, REDmoney Events are able to provide access to a unique array of influential speakers, panelists and participants from a cross-section of the global industry to debate the most significant issues affecting the Shariah compliant financial markets.
REDmoney events are differentiated by their complimentary yet qualified attendance structure, ensuring the highest quality of both delegates and contributors. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, attendance ensures exclusive access to the leaders in their field across all sectors and markets.
TThe annual IFN Asia and IFN UK Forums are categorically recognized as their continent’s leading industry events since their inception in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The Dialogues series has also become an integral element of the REDmoney events series and have cemented their position as leading, must-attend, events. In 2022, we introduced the Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment Forum, which was an enormous success, and will become a mainstay.
For any inquiries contact us
Our team will be glad to answer any questions you may have about this event.
