3rd October 2023
Securities Commission Malaysia
Co-host and Strategic Partner
#ISFIKL2023
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LIMITED / EXCLUSIVE SEATING
About The Forum
Supported by the Capital Markets Malaysia, the Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment Forum is the region’s leading conference on Shariah compliant ESG finance. The Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment Forum will once again be held at the Securities Commission Malaysia in partnership with Capital Markets Malaysia and with the support of multilateral stakeholders.
As ESG considerations become more prevalent in the investment decision-making process of investors and product development strategy of financial institutions, the 5th Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment Forum (previously known as IFN Sustainable Finance Forum) will convene the industry’s most influential actors including practitioners, investors, and regulators in a meaningful engagement to further drive the sector forward.
Valued at US$3.65 trillion in 2021, the global sustainable finance market is on a phenomenal upward trajectory with analysts projecting for the industry to hit US$22.49 trillion by 2031, growing at a 20.1% compound annual growth rate from 2022 to 2031, according to Allied Market Research. Islamic sustainable finance and investments is set to expand as well as Islamic financial institutions and key players commit to net zero and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
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.
#IFNFORUMS2023
Forum Agenda
9:00 – 9:05
Welcome Address
9:05 – 9:20
Keynote Address
9:20 – 10:30
Ensuring an Effective, Innovative and Equitable Transition to Low Carbon: Policy, Regulation & Innovation.
What does a successful strategic roadmap for advancing transition look like? Are current policies and actions sufficiently aligned with climate risk? Are the various climate taxonomies conflicting or complimentary, and how do we offer a clear and consistent message? Are tax and operational cost incentives for companies and issuers sufficient, and are current regulatory frameworks encouraging product and market innovation? Finally, how do we effectively position and market Islamic sustainable finance and investment, and what would represent meaningful goals for the sector?
10:30 – 10:45
Presentation: Markets and Sectors Driving Growth and Leading Innovation in Islamic Sustainable Finance.
10:45 – 11:15
Coffee
11:15 – 11:35
Keynote Interview
11:35 – 12:35
How Innovation is Driving the Funding of Green and Sustainable Activities: A session by the Securities Commission Malaysia
- Do currently available taxonomies adequately address sector-specific transition concerns and what are salient additions to later versions?
- Assessing disclosure requirements and developing an effective climate change curriculum for financial institutions.
- How are governments and exchanges enabling the trading of carbon credits, and what are the objectives and benefits of such initiatives?
- Defining the role of the financial sector in facilitating an effective energy transition in conjunction with the National Energy Policy.
- How will the pace of adoption of ESG by SMEs impact the banking sector and capital markets?
12:35 – 13:30
Blueprint for Protecting the Future: Islamic Sustainable and Social Investing.
What steps are necessary to ensure Islamic sustainable investors are offered a common definition of climate risk standards in ASEAN? What is driving innovation of Islamic sustainable and social finance and investment products, and are we successfully creating products which satisfy both Shariah and ESG requirements? How do systematic tilts in portfolio allocation resulting from Shariah screens influence ESG integration in the development of Shariah-screened ESG funds? What is the role of the asset management sector in directing capital to social causes, and how can Waqf be further deployed to facilitate this? How are investors using ESG data and indices to benchmark and measure portfolio performance and is data still a challenge for the industry? We ask an expert panel.
Panelist:Shahariah Shaharudin, President, Saturna Malaysia
13:30 – 14:30
Lunch
14:30 – 15:00
Interview
15:00 – 16:00
Deploying Transition Finance and Sustainability Linked Products in a Climate Risk-sensitive Environment.
What is driving the shift towards transition and sustainability-linked bonds and Sukuk issuance, and how do we maintain this momentum? What options do the deployment of sustainability linked financing structures offer issuers, and are they properly understood? How do we better identify viable underlying assets for transition and sustainability linked issuance, while also verifying the actual uses of proceeds? What role does transition and sustainability linked finance play in the development of sustainable projects and infrastructure development? How can adherence to KPIs in the post issuance process be assured and what tools are available for this purpose, such as second-party opinions and external review? We seek the views of an expert panel.
Panelist:Dr Mohamad Zabidi Ahmad, Regional Chief Representative, DDCAP Group
Forum Speakers
Dr Mohamad Zabidi Ahmad
Regional Chief Representative, DDCAP GroupDr Mohamad Zabidi Ahmad has worked in the banking industry for 38 years. He has amassed 19 years of experience in group treasury products and functions (conventional and Islamic) including corporate (deposits, investments, client solutions), interbank, fixed income and derivatives, product development, structuring and marketing. He previously served as the senior managing director and regional head of Islamic treasury, treasury and markets in group wholesale banking for CIMB Group. During that time, he was responsible for the development of CIMB Group’s regional Islamic treasury franchises, managing over RM100 billion (US$23.88 billion) of Islamic assets for CIMB Group Islamic Banking. His country-focused treasury remits included Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand and for five years, he was based in London as a chief dealer. His innovations included the introduction of CIMB’s Islamic repo contract.
Dr Mohamad Zabidi has held various additional executive management positions within the CIMB Group, including the chairman of the Investment Account Oversight Committee and a member of the Group Islamic Management Committee, the Treasury and Market Committee and the Group Islamic Wholesale Banking Committee. He has been widely recognized for his leadership, with CIMB announced as ‘Best Islamic Bank for Treasury Management’ at the IFN Awards in 2019. He previously participated in the Bursa Malaysia/Bank Negara Malaysia Working Group resulting in the formation of the Bursa Suq Al-Sila’ Commodity House and the Working Group resulting in the establishment of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation.
Dr Mohamad Zabidi served as a proactive chairman of AIBIM Treasury & Markets, leading the CMTC Sukuk Index Task Force in the successful launch of the Sovereign & Corporate Bloomberg-AIBIM-Bursa Sukuk Index in September 2012. In 2018, under his leadership, AIBIM also published the practice notes for Qard Hasan and commodity Murabahah for adoption by AIBIM members. He has presented papers on Islamic treasury products to various central banks, including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Bank Indonesia and Bank Negara Malaysia.
Among his academic and professional achievements, Dr Mohamad Zabidi holds a doctorate in business administration from Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate School of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia and has a Bachelor in Accountancy degree with honors from Universiti Teknologi MARA.
A qualified chartered accountant, Dr Mohamad Zabidi is a practicing member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, a certified senior financial market practitioner by ACI-Financial Market of Malaysia and the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers and holds an Associate Qualification in Islamic Finance from the Islamic Banking & Finance Institute Malaysia and that of senior associate from the Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance.
Shahariah Shaharudin
President, Saturna MalaysiaShahariah Shaharudin is the president of Saturna, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saturna
Capital Corporation. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in business studies from Knox College, Illinois and a Master of Arts degree in economics from University of Illinois, Springfield.
Shahariah has more than 30 years of experience in the areas of fund management, stockbroking and commercial banking. She started her career in a commercial bank with extensive experience in retail banking, trade finance and corporate banking and later joined a stockbroking company, overseeing both the stockbroking and futures broking business. She also worked for a fund management house under the Strategic Business and Market Development Division where her core responsibility was sourcing business and servicing both retail and wholesale clients. She was CEO and an executive director of Kenanga Islamic Investors until joining Saturna in October 2018.
Shahariah speaks at Islamic finance and ESG conferences. She is passionate about Islamic investment and has participated in the Brunei Roundtable; presented in events in Shenzen, China; and was nominated in the ‘Top 10 List for Women in Malaysian Financial Institutions’ by a local magazine.
Shahariah is currently a holder of the Capital Market Services Representatives License for fund management.
Forum Partners
LEAD PARTNER
HSBC Amanah
When it comes to Islamic finance, HSBC Malaysia has led the way by becoming the first internationally-owned bank to launch an Islamic banking window in 1994. In 2008, HSBC Amanah Malaysia was the first internationally-owned bank to be incorporated as an Islamic banking subsidiary in Malaysia.
Since then, HSBC Amanah has led in developing the Islamic finance industry across product, proposition and future market development and is a recognized leader in Sukuk issuance, green and sustainable financing and international transactions.
HSBC Amanah is a founding member of the Value-Based Intermediation Community of Practitioners championed by Bank Negara Malaysia and continues to drive sustainable leadership in Malaysia. The bank has won many notable accolades including the ‘Islamic ESG Bank of the Year’ award for the third consecutive year as part of The Asset Triple A Islamic Finance Awards. Know more about HSBC Amanah here: https://www.hsbcamanah.com.my/
CO-HOST AND STRATEGIC PARTNER
Capital Markets Malaysia
As part of its mandate to develop the capital market, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) set up the Capital Markets Promotion Council in 2012 to strengthen its internationalization agenda for Malaysia’s capital market. In 2014, the SC launched Capital Markets Malaysia (CMM) to spearhead both the local and international positioning and profiling of the Malaysian capital market with its wide range of conventional and Islamic products, supported by a strong governance infrastructure. CMM profiles the competitiveness and attractiveness of the various segments of the capital market via a comprehensive and integrated approach to increase international participation and enhance opportunities for Malaysian capital market intermediaries.
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.
S&P Dow Jones Indices
S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world. Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has become home to over one million indices across the spectrum of asset classes that have helped define the way investors measure and trade the markets.
S&P DJI has the longest history of providing Islamic market indices since the launch of DJIM World Index, the world’s first Shariah compliant benchmark in 1999. In 2006, the Dow Jones Sukuk Index was launched, which became the first index to track the performance of global Islamic fixed income securities.
Nowadays, S&P DJI offers two highly visible and widely used index families for Shariah compliant investors: The DJ Islamic Market (DJIM) Indices and S&P Shariah Indices. The two index families include thousands of broad-market, blue-chip, fixed-income and strategy and thematic indices that have passed rules-based screens for Shariah compliance and are the most visible and widely-used set of Shariah compliant benchmarks in the world. A majority of the largest asset managers in the Middle East, Southeast Asia as well as major banks/asset managers in Europe and the US that serve a Shariah clientele utilize S&P DJI to construct Shariah compliant investment strategies.
S&P DJI is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit www.spglobal.com/spdji/.
Saturna
Saturna is the wholly-owned Malaysian subsidiary of Saturna Capital Corporation, a values-based global asset manager which is Shariah compliant with an ESG focus. Saturna’s deep-rooted belief in value investing shines through in the quality of our investments. We do not follow trends, we analyze opportunities focusing on capital preservation and sustainable investment. Our broad experience distinguishes us in the investment business. We help individuals and institutions build wealth and preserve capital.
Our parent company, Saturna Capital Corporation, is a US-based fund manager specializing in Shariah equities and is internationally recognized as an investment advisor to the Amana Mutual Funds Trust. It has the two largest Islamic equity mutual funds in the world, ie Amana Income Fund and Amana Growth Fund with assets under management of both funds circa US$5 billion.
Trowers & Hamlins
Trowers & Hamlins is an international law firm with over 150 partners and more than 900 people located across the UK, the Middle East and the Far East providing a full-service integrated offering to clients with local knowledge and expertise at its core.
Our distinguishing feature is that with 25 years of experience in the UK and the Middle East, we have a depth of knowledge of the Islamic finance industry that covers the entire spectrum from regulatory and corporate governance to capital market issuances and real estate investment. Our international team of multidisciplinary specialists will guide you on structuring your Shariah compliant activities to help you achieve a successful outcome.
With our growing office in Kuala Lumpur, our team now advises on Islamic investments, financings and products across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
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
In The News
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The Previous Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment Forum
Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment Forum 2022
The 4th Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment Forum (previously the IFN Green and Sustainable Finance Forum) will again be held in Kuala Lumpur, the international center for Shariah sustainable and green finance. Supported by local regulators and multilateral stakeholders, the Forum will convene the industry’s most influential actors including practitioners, investors, and regulators in a meaningful engagement to further drive the sector forward.
The recent introduction of regulatory frameworks and initiatives promoting the development of sustainable finance across Southeast Asia has highlighted the significance and relevance of this important and fast-growing sector. With more corporates, financial institutions, government bodies and regulators becoming aware of Sustainable Development Goals, countries offering environments conducive for the growth of sustainable finance and investment will see tangible and long-term benefits.
The United Nations Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimated that to adequately fund the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries, US$5 trillion to US$7 trillion will be required in annual investments by 2030. Fulfilling this ambitious financial requirement presents not only challenges, but also significant opportunities.
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.
