King & Spalding is an international law firm with more than 30 years’ experience advising clients globally on Islamic finance. Consistently ranked among the best in the world, the firm’s global Islamic finance and investment practice includes over 30 lawyers and professionals in offices across the Middle East, Europe and the US.

In the Middle East, the firm leads in the formation of investment funds across a range of asset sectors, and the innovative fund structures it has developed to deal with local ownership and financing restrictions are now precedents followed by the industry. The firm maintains a leading role in handling debt capital markets work, in particular Sukuk issuances for issuers and lead arrangers across the Middle East and Turkey. In Europe, the firm is recognized as a leader in structuring and advising on Shariah compliant real estate financing and investments, as well as advising various international investment banks in their capacities as arrangers in debt capital market transactions, particularly Sukuk issuances. In the US, the firm is widely acknowledged as the firm of choice for Shariah compliant investment and financing transactions.

Acreditus is a boutique advisory created to provide trusted, independent and high-quality rating, risk and Sukuk advisory services to corporates, sovereigns, banks, regulators, asset managers and institutional investors.

In this challenging and dynamic market environment, our clients can apply our unique and unmatched credit experience to maintain or improve their credit risk profile with the markets, credit rating agencies and institutional investors. These same skills can support asset managers, central banks and regulatory bodies to better evaluate and potentially supervise the risks associated with such entities and markets, as well as in the formulation of new policies and regulations.

For the stakeholders in the new and fast-growing Sukuk capital markets, Acreditus can apply our global expertise to help support their strategic aspirations by highlighting potential challenges and opportunities in this immature and developing sector. Regulatory advisory is available to help policymakers promote the sector’s growth and penetration while still ensuring that the particular risks of the sector are captured appropriately to ensure investor confidence and financial system stability.

Bidaya Home Finance was founded and launched as a joint stock company with a total paid-up capital of SAR900 million (US$239.91 million). Headquartered in Riyadh, Bidaya is licensed under the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority and offers a suite of Shariah compliant products to end-users and partners. Bidaya has a preeminent composition of shareholders in the home finance space. It is sponsored by the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD — a member of the IDB Group) and the Public Investment Fund (PIF), along with a cross-section of organizations committed to the enablement of home ownership.

The mandates of the PIF and the ICD are integral to the formation of Bidaya and its social mandate to participate in and improve the enabling of home ownership opportunities to Saudi families. Bidaya aims to increase access to finance for middle-income homebuyers across the Kingdom.

Other shareholders include prominent sponsors and promoters in the Kingdom such as Rashed AbdulRahman Al Rashed & Sons Company, Arab Investment Company, Al Othaim Holdings, Manafi International (M Y Naghi & Brothers), El Khereiji Investment Company, Manafea Holding Company and Jawahir Investment Co.

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.

Dentons is the world’s largest law firm, delivering quality and value to clients around the globe. Dentons is a leader on the Acritas Global Elite Brand Index, a BTI Client Service 30 Award winner and recognized by prominent business and legal publications for its innovations in client service, including founding Nextlaw Labs and the Nextlaw Global Referral Network. Dentons’s polycentric approach and world-class talent challenge the status quo to advance client interests in the communities in which we live and work.

Eiger Trading Advisors (Eiger) is a UK-based asset-trading and technology company founded in 2008, which specializes as an intermediary in Islamic financial products.

As a leading intermediary and technology provider within the commodity Murabahah space, Eiger has the unique capabilities to deliver Shariah compliant commodity trading solutions through the Eiger Trading Platform (ETP), a web-based trading system, that we tailor to our bank clients’ exact operational requirements.

The ETP automates the structuring and execution of Islamic banking products for wholesale and retail commodity-backed transactions, including two new enhanced modules:

• ETP Retail – A 24/7 STP platform designed to automate the end-to-end commodity Murabahah transactions underpinning retail banking products such as deposits, loans, CASA, credit cards
• ETP Client Reach – A bespoke middle and back office module designed to streamline Islamic treasury and derivative transactions, including execution and documentation with our clients’ clients.

Eiger is authorized and regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, and is both a member of the London Metal Exchange and an associate of the London Platinum and Palladium Market.

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.

Macquarie Group is a global diversified financial group. It acts primarily as an investment intermediary for institutional, corporate and retail clients and counterparties around the world.

Macquarie Group has built a uniquely diversified business since its inception in 1969. It has established leading market positions as a global specialist in a wide range of sectors, including resources, agriculture and commodities, green energy, conventional energy and infrastructure, with a deep knowledge of Asia Pacific financial markets.

Macquarie Group’s diverse range of services provides clients with asset management and finance, banking, advisory and risk and capital solutions across debt, equity and commodities.

Founded in 1969, Macquarie employs 14,469 people in over 25 countries. As of the 31st March 2018, Macquarie had assets under management of US$381.8 billion.

Since its inception in 2006, Mashreq Capital has grown to become one the region’s most seasoned asset managers with equity and fixed income funds that consistently rank as top performers among their peers.

Nomura Islamic Asset Management (NIAM) was established in November 2008 to serve as the global Islamic hub for the Nomura Asset Management (NAM) Group internationally, to provide Shariah compliant investment solutions to our clients worldwide. In the short period since our inception, we have successfully built ourselves as one of the largest Islamic fund management boutiques in the world by assets under management size, and have been ranked among the world’s top 25 largest for the past four consecutive years by Asian Investor.

NIAM is a full-suite investment management office, with capabilities developed for portfolio management, research, and Shariah compliance monitoring for the Islamic equity and Sukuk asset classes, with regional and global coverage. We tailor our Shariah investment solutions to meet the needs of our diverse clientele, including prominent institutions globally, such as central banks, pension funds, financial institutions and corporations. Our investments are in strict adherence and accordance with Shariah principles under the guidance of our panel of Shariah advisors who are among the industry’s preeminent and most experienced Shariah experts or scholars.

In partnership with local and international industry players, we are avid participants in focused initiatives to promote Shariah investing across various markets. We have been involved in various consultations and dialogues with regulators and government bodies to promote a better understanding and support of Islamic investment solutions, not just in Malaysia, but also notably, in Brunei, Indonesia and the Middle East.

Even prior to the establishment of NIAM, we have been in the Islamic asset management space via our local conventional sister company, Nomura Asset Management Malaysia, which has been managing Shariah mandates since 2007. In addition to our adherence to Shariah standards, the NAM Group as a whole is also a signatory of the United Nation Principles for Responsible Investing, and as such we incorporate responsible investment principles into our investment approach.

Safa Investment Services is the world’s first independent Islamic wealth and asset management brand. No other bank or investment company anywhere insures the independent selection of sharia-compliant assets into the accounts of its customers, resulting in efficient asset allocations into portfolios comprising “best of class” global securities.

SEDCO Capital is a leading asset management company offering a range of investment services and offerings in the global financial markets.

SEDCO Capital’s roots date back to 1976 boasting a team that has extensive experience and expertise in the field of investment management with achievements that include the establishment of the largest specialized Shariah compliant fund platform in Luxembourg and commitment to ethical investments and a fair investment strategy, and with a proven track record of providing world-class investment solutions to global institutions, sovereign wealth funds and high-net-worth individuals.

Our offerings include services such as advisory and asset management with respect to listed equities, private equity, real estate, money market and fixed income across geographies and a diverse mandate structure catering to clients’ customization requirements.

For more than 160 years, Winston & Strawn has served as a trusted advisor to general counsel across virtually every industry. Winston’s integrated practice has tremendous breadth and global reach, with 1,000 lawyers in 16 geographic locations across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and North America organized as a single law firm. This is founded on our lawyers’ creativity, flexibility, depth of experience and commitment.

Our Islamic finance practice advises on complex banking and finance transactions in the Middle East and internationally. We work on a wide array of Shariah compliant transactions, including structured Islamic bank financings, corporate acquisitions, corporate and sovereign Islamic bond (or Sukuk) issuances and complex multi-sourced (Islamic and conventional) project financings across a range of sectors, including real estate, infrastructure, water, energy, petrochemicals and oil and gas. We regularly represent Islamic financial institutions and conventional banks, export credit agencies, development finance institutions and government departments and agencies, as well as major domestic and multinational corporations.

The World Gold Council is the market development organization for the gold industry. Our purpose is to stimulate and sustain demand for gold, provide industry leadership and be the global authority on the gold market.

We develop gold-backed solutions, services and products based on authoritative market insight and we work with a range of partners to put our ideas into action. As a result, we create structural shifts in demand for gold across key market sectors. We provide insights into the international gold markets, helping people to understand the wealth preservation qualities of gold and its role in meeting the social and environmental needs of society.

Based in the UK, with operations in India, the Far East, Europe and the US, the World Gold Council is an association whose members include the world’s leading and most forward-thinking gold mining companies.

Nomura Islamic Asset Management (NIAM) was established in November 2008 to serve as the global Islamic hub for the Nomura Asset Management (NAM) Group internationally, to provide Shariah compliant investment solutions to our clients worldwide. In the short period since our inception, we have successfully built ourselves as one of the largest Islamic fund management boutiques in the world by assets under management size, and have been ranked among the world’s top 25 largest for the past four consecutive years by Asian Investor.

NIAM is a full-suite investment management office, with capabilities developed for portfolio management, research, and Shariah compliance monitoring for the Islamic equity and Sukuk asset classes, with regional and global coverage. We tailor our Shariah investment solutions to meet the needs of our diverse clientele, including prominent institutions globally, such as central banks, pension funds, financial institutions and corporations. Our investments are in strict adherence and accordance with Shariah principles under the guidance of our panel of Shariah advisors who are among the industry’s preeminent and most experienced Shariah experts or scholars.

In partnership with local and international industry players, we are avid participants in focused initiatives to promote Shariah investing across various markets. We have been involved in various consultations and dialogues with regulators and government bodies to promote a better understanding and support of Islamic investment solutions, not just in Malaysia, but also notably, in Brunei, Indonesia and the Middle East.

Even prior to the establishment of NIAM, we have been in the Islamic asset management space via our local conventional sister company, Nomura Asset Management Malaysia, which has been managing Shariah mandates since 2007. In addition to our adherence to Shariah standards, the NAM Group as a whole is also a signatory of the United Nation Principles for Responsible Investing, and as such we incorporate responsible investment principles into our investment approach.

AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics is working diligently and under vigilance shariah
compliant standards since its inception. AlHuda CIBE was established in 2005 and Mr. Zubair Mughal is its
Chief Executive Officer. AlHuda CIBE has been accredited as a distinguished service provider due to our
notable services, team of dedicated professionals and one stop solutions of Islamic banking and finance.
Our aim is to provide state-of-the-art and science services of Islamic banking and finance worldwide.
AlHuda head office is in UAE and regional offices are in Pakistan and in South Africa. AlHuda CIBE is
omnipresent worldwide for its various services:

• Advisory & Consultancy
• Research & Development
• Education & Capacity Building
• Shariah Advisory
• Publications & Events

Website link: www.alhudacibe.com

Oxford Business Group (OBG) is a global research and consultancy company with a presence in over 30 countries, from the Middle East, Africa and Asia to the Americas. A distinctive and respected provider of on-the-ground intelligence on many of the world’s fastest growing markets, OBG has offices in London, Berlin, Dubai and Istanbul, and a network of local bureaus across the countries in which we operate.

Through its range of products, OBG offers comprehensive and accurate analysis of macroeconomic and sectoral developments, including banking, capital markets, tourism, energy, transport, industry and ICT. OBG provides business intelligence to its subscribers through multiple platforms: Economic News and Views, OBG Business Barometer – CEO Survey, Roundtables and conferences, Global Platform – exclusive video interviews, The Report publications and its Consultancy division.

The Business Year (TBY) is a global media group specializing in economic news, research on national economies, and business intelligence across emerging markets. With operations in over 35 countries, we bring first-hand insights to investors, businesses, and governments worldwide.

True Banking is a Bi-Monthly magazine working to deliver Islamic banking & financial services with specific focus on research development, market analysis, training and advancements. The prime aim of True Banking is to create awareness of Islamic banking and finance in the masses and to make available a platform to get the latest news, innovations and updates of national and international banking and finance industry. It is an addition to our achievements towards developing and promoting Shariah compliant financial industry worldwide.