Bilal Parvaiz
Director, Islamic Business and Head Product Management, Standard Chartered Saadiq
Date: 24th & 25th November 2020
Venue: Kuala Lumpur
Attendees:
HASHTAG #ifnevents
ABOUT THE FORUM
Anchoring big players like Malaysia and Indonesia, the Asian Islamic capital market has been leading the global industry, not only in size, but also in innovation and diversification. The sophisticated infrastructure of Malaysia is a hallmark of excellence globally, the immense potential of Indonesia’s population and its flourishing sovereign Sukuk market remains captivating to many and the phenomenal market expansion rates in Pakistan and Bangladesh are widely envied. Together, along with various other newcomers like the Maldives and Sri Lanka – which is looking to issue a sovereign Islamic paper – the Asian continent is expected to be at the forefront of the global Shariah compliant debt and equity markets by leveraging advanced and sophisticated regulations, and attracting masses of global investors into the region to subsequently build its rapport with other regions. IFN will return to Kuala Lumpur with its prestigious IFN Asia Forum, a twoday event with a renewed focus on issuers and investors on the 24th & 25th November 2020.
Floor Plan for IFN Asia Forum. Click to enlarge.
FORUM AGENDA
09:30
Return to Factory Settings: The Opportunities for a Back-to-Basics Approach and How Islamic Finance Can and Will Flourish
The world has changed. How our industry – global Islamic banking, finance and investment – chooses to respond to these changes may be a generation defining moment. How can Islamic finance mobilize to address the imminent challenges of the real economy and provide not just liquidity support, but solvency support to the vital SME and corporate sector? Can Islamic finance use this opportunity to become truly responsible, inclusive and ethical? How can we as an industry ensure this is substance over form on a permanent basis? What opportunities do the UN Principles for Responsible Banking offer Islamic financial institutions, and what obligations and responsibilities to their stakeholders are placed on those institutions? How can the core values of Islamic finance be further applied to sustainable and socially responsible finance and investment strategies? We ask a respected panel for a roadmap to success for Islamic banking, finance and capital markets.
10:45
Coffee & Networking
11:15
Putting Islamic Finance to Work: Sustainable, Humanitarian & Green Initiatives
In the shadow of COVID-19, what role can pandemic and disaster recovery bonds play and how can Islamic finance solutions feature? How can Sustainable Development Goal 3 – promoting health and wellbeing – be made an achievable priority and what do SDG bonds, and potentially SDG Sukuk, offer? Beyond credit, what types of new vehicles will begin to feature in the financing of sustainable, social, humanitarian projects and what do Islamic finance structures offer? Are ratings, reporting, regulatory frameworks and screening technologies among the most significant changes facing sustainable finance today, and how has the sector responded? Where are the latest touch-points between Islamic finance and green and sustainable initiatives and where will we see the examples of overlap and cooperation?
12:15
Southeast Asia Leading the World: Building The Halal Economy
How large, potentially, is the Halal economy, both domestically and internationally? What are the prime sectors and opportunities available in this exciting sector? How do we undertake effective value chain analysis of the Halal economy, what role does technology play and how have recent market challenges changed our industry? Are companies in the Halal economy exclusively using Islamic financial services, and if not, why? How do Islamic financial institutions position themselves to offer effective financing through trade and export finance, Takaful, SME banking, treasury and other key financial services? How can Islamic capital markets and Sukuk also play a meaningful role in the financing and development of the Halal economy? We explore this vital and dynamic sector.
13:15
Luncheon
14:15
Managing and Navigating Uncertainty: Islamic Capital Markets, Funding and Sukuk
We ask an expert panel to examine spreads, pricing and ratings and identify what factors drive these in the short to medium term in Southeast Asia. How will external factors such as business sentiment, consumer behavior and fluctuating oil prices continue to influence credit fundamentals as well as issuer access to capital markets? In what ways will Sukuk play a prominent role in funding governments, corporates and projects? What innovation might we see in regional Islamic capital markets going forward and what structures offer issuers flexibility and efficiency? In times of stress and volatility, do Sukuk offer some semblance of stability? Will coming months see significant levels of debt restructuring and refinancing? We seek the thoughts of industry leaders.
15:15
IFN Fintech Huddle: What’s Hot and What’s Not in Tech and Finance?
How is technology playing a role in today’s corporate, investment banking and capital markets? Where is disruption and disintermediation taking place in the capital raising process and what do FinTechs have to offer in terms of innovation? What disruption is taking place in the SME funding sector in particular? What are the challenges for new, high-growth technology companies and do they offer sufficient scale to be a major threat to the traditional financial services players? Where and how can FinTech play a meaningful role in key Islamic social financial activities such as Takaful, Zakat and Waqf?
16:30
End of Day One, Coffee & Networking
10:00 – 12:30
Dialogue One: Islamic, Ethical and Responsible Investment
What can Islamic asset managers share with their conventional counterparts, including the successful use of endowment structures and enhanced investment screening? What’s needed to build a global Islamic investment management industry and how can the industry become more client-centric? How is the Islamic asset management industry addressing ethical and governance issues, including screening and the use of data and AI? What have Robo-advisory platforms achieved in terms of penetration and market share and what threat do they realistically pose to traditional asset managers? What influences the deployment of Shariah compliant capital, what do Shariah compliant institutional investors want and where do private equity, Sukuk funds, trade finance funds and others play a role? What criteria should contribute towards an investment being classified as green, responsible, ethical or sustainable? What disclosure requirements are in place, or likely to be in place, for asset managers involved with green, ethical and sustainable investing, and how are asset allocation decisions affected by this? What role does governance investing play as part of a responsible and ethical investment strategy, and is this changing?
12:30 – 13:30
Luncheon
13:30 – 15:45
Dialogue Two: All the Techs
We examine the rise of WealthTech, InsurTech, RegTech and Robo-advisory, and ask where and how technology is re-defining Islamic asset/wealth management and insurance. How can traditional asset and wealth managers and insurers compete with the new techs and what other activities, sectors and demographics are ripe for disruption? What do tools and platforms such as Blockchain and AI offer this thriving sector, and how should these be deployed? What challenges do financial technology companies still face in terms of funding, regulation and market penetration? What more can be done by investors, accelerators, governments and regulators to assist and enable today’s financial and investment technology companies?
FORUM KEYNOTES
FORUM SPEAKERS
ADVISORY BOARD
Cedric Rimaud
ASEAN Program Manager, Climate Bonds Initiative
Hussam Sultan
Regional Head, Commercial and Transaction Banking (Islamic), CIMB
Masumi Hamahira
Advisor, Islamic Banking Window, MUFG Bank
Michael Orzano
Senior Director of Global Equities, S&P Dow Jones Indices
Norhizam Kadir
Vice-President, Fintech and Islamic Digital Economy Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)
Prof Dr Obiyathulla Ismath Bacha
Professor of Finance, International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF)
FORUM SPONSORS
LEAD PARTNER
MULTILATERAL STRATEGIC PARTNERS
STRATEGIC PARTNER
PARTNERS
LANYARD SPONSOR
MEDIA PARTNER
Last Visit to Kuala Lumpur
Date: 23rd & 24th April 2019
Venue: Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
Attendees: 779
Speakers: 68 Speakers
Anchoring big players like Malaysia and Indonesia, the Asian Islamic capital market has been leading the global industry, not only in size, but also in innovation and diversification. The sophisticated infrastructure of Malaysia is a hallmark of excellence globally, the immense potential of Indonesia’s population and its flourishing sovereign Sukuk market remains captivating to many and the phenomenal market expansion rates in Pakistan and Bangladesh are widely envied.
Together, along with various other newcomers like the Maldives and Sri Lanka – which is looking to issue a sovereign Islamic paper – the Asian continent is expected to be at the forefront of the global Shariah compliant debt and equity markets by leveraging advanced and sophisticated regulations, and attracting masses of global investors into the region to subsequently build its rapport with other regions.
IFN will return to Kuala Lumpur with its prestigious IFN Asia Forum, a two-day event with a renewed focus on issuers and investors on the 23rd -24th April 2019.
Enjoyable session, good networking avenue. Good platform to keep up with current ongoings.
Norazilla Md Tahir
CFO, Cagamas
Insightful high-quality discussions at IFN Asia Forum 2017 will certainly help to promote the enhanced agility of the international Islamic finance industry especially in navigating the ever-changing dynamics of finance markets. The forum was particularly successful in highlighting that human capital development is a key prerequisite to enhance the industry’s agility and needs to be supported by a robust quality framework for learning and development – which is at the core of our work in Finance Accreditation Agency that we carry out globally.
Khairul Nizam
CEO, Finance Accreditation Agency
A good platform for Islamic financiers to share knowledge and experience. Kudos to the organizers!
Noor Shima Noh
Head, Risk Management, Alkhair International Islamic
For anyone who wants to see, hear and feel the pulse of Islamic finance, this is a great yearly Islamic finance event not to be missed. The FinTech Day is something new, fresh and exciting. Prepare to be disrupted!
Azleena Idris
Former Deputy Director of Islamic Banking, Bank Negara Malaysia; Consultant, SHAPE Knowledge
The pleasure was all mine. I enjoyed the forum and it was well attended. Will be happy to support this event in future.
Rafe Haneef
CEO, CIMB Islamic Bank
Kudos to REDmoney events for consistently executing the large-scale IFN forums with remarkable success. As a speaker at their events, I’ve always been impressed by their excellent planning well in advance and spot-on execution on the event day itself, making the programs flow smoothly and without hiccups. They are, in my opinion, by far the best Islamic finance event organizers by a distance! Keep it up guys!!
Naysan Munusamy
Co-Founder of MoneyMatch and Managing Partner of TH Capital
Participation in the forum has served dual purposes for us – on the one hand, we have had the ability to showcase and raise further our profile among the participants and second, to network with potential collaborators to further Islamic finance in various ways together which will result in a more accelerated development of Islamic finance than if we were to try to ‘go it alone’. Thanks IFN!
Nida Raza
Director Advisory, Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD)
IFN has been a strong supporter in raising awareness and organizing Islamic finance events across the globe, especially in countries across Asia. The ICD has had the pleasure of working with IFN on various events and projects and their main IFN Asia event was a great success in bringing many stakeholders together to discuss the Islamic finance agenda. On behalf of the ICD, I would like to thank the IFN team for the service they provide from year to year, and we look forward to their continuing participation in propelling Islamic finance to greater heights.
Khaled Al Aboodi
CEO, IslamicCorporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD)
I have been participating in the IFN Asia Forum with great regularity since the inaugural event over a decade ago. It is refreshing to attend industry events that evolve and pivot to better meet industry needs, hold participant interest and, most importantly, deliver value to the industry. After 10-plus years, the IFN Asia Forum continues to be a leading forum to bring new ideas to a broader market, serve as a gathering place to connect with existing partners and build new relationships and a place to just learn and develop. We are always impressed with IFN events and continue to leverage them as part of our business and human capital development activities every year. Kudos on another productive and valuable event!
Kavilash Chawla
Partner, Baton Global
It was a pleasure meeting other panelists and learning from their rich experience. Look forward to staying in touch. Last but not the least, congratulations to the IFN team for organizing a very successful event.
Ali Allawala
CEO, Standard Chartered Saadiq
I thought that we had a good session, which laid a good foundation for the rest of the day.
Ashraf Mohammed
Assistant General Counsel, Asian Development Bank
A quick note to thank you for the invitation to speak, and congratulations on a forum very well organized! Glad to have had the time for knowledge-sharing.
Hazwan Alif Abdul Rahman
CEO, CMC Engineering
Thank you for the invitation to speak at this event and for the very good organization and attendance.
Mohamed Damak
Global Head of Islamic Finance, S&P Global Ratings
Thank you so much for inviting. I really enjoyed myself. The event was so well organized too. So grand. Well done!
Sharifah Bakar Ali
General Manager, Group Business Development, UEM Group
Thank you for the kind message, job made very easy with a great set of panelists. I particularly enjoyed your explanation of Gen-Y behavior, it was very insightful.
Arsalaan Ahmed
CEO, HSBC Amanah
It was my pleasure. Many thanks Andrew. I enjoyed it and felt the discussions were relevant.
Daud Vicary Abdullah
Managing Director, DVA Consulting
A big thank you to you and your team is in order for a job well done.
Ashraf Gomma Ali
Director/Regional Head, Shariah and Governance, CIMB Islamic
It’s always a pleasure to work with you and the team, Andrew, and I thank you for inviting me to moderate the session. We thought that the event was extremely good and the attendance supports this view. The sessions were all very interesting and there was a very positive vibe throughout.
Lawrence Oliver
Deputy CEO, DDCAP Group
Congratulations on yet another successful event! Thank you for giving us the opportunity to contribute to the event. We look forward to be of service at the next opportunity!
Simon Chen
Vice-President - Senior Analyst, Financial Institutions Group, Moody’s Investors Service
A very well-organized and attended event. Interesting times ahead for Malaysia. Likewise, looking forward to working with you and the REDmoney team soon, thanks.
Yeoh Teik Leng
Head, Structured Finance and Loan Markets, Capital Markets Group, AmInvestment Bank
Well done to REDmoney for a well-organized event.
Faridah Bakar Ali
Director and CFO, Khazanah Nasional
For any inquiries contact us
Our team will be glad to answer any questions you may have about this event.
