Abdullah Al-Jufaili - General Manager, Sharakah
Abdulrahman Awadh Barham – Board Director, Tilal Development Company
Anita Yadav - Senior Director, Global Markets & Treasury, Head of Fixed Income Research, Emirates NBD Bank
Dr Caroline Bolle – Head of Investment Banking, Bank Muscat
Gautam Dutta – CEO, Al Madina Takaful
Jonathan Fried – Partner, Capital Markets, Linklaters
Kemal Rizadi Arbi - Expert/Advisor, Capital Market Authority, Sultanate of Oman
Lo’ai Bataineh – Chief Investment Officer, Oman Arab Bank
Mansoor J Malik - Senior Partner, Al Busaidy, Mansoor Jamal & Co.
Mohamad Noranuar Bin Sajari - Head, Sharia Structuring, Bank Nizwa
Mohsin Shaik bin Sehu Mohammed - Senior Executive Manager – Investment Banking & Capital Markets, Maisarah Islamic Banking Services
NOTE-TO-EDITOR
28th February 2017
IFN returns to Oman in 2017 with the IFN Oman Forum. The Islamic banking sector in Oman has gone through a commendable growth rate, highlighting the growing prominence of Shariah compliant finance in its economy. Having hosted the IFN Seminar and Dialogue in 2016, the event for 2017 will evolve into a forum with an expected larger number of participants, against the backdrop of further inroads that Oman has made in the industry thus far.
Although Oman was one of the last GCC states to join the Islamic finance table, it is clearly pushing forward in its attempt to grow the industry. Listen to market regulators and leading industry experts discuss the opportunities within this sector at the IFN Oman Forum 2017. The event kicks off with keynote addresses from prominent figures in Oman’s banking and finance industry: Abdullah Salim Al-Salmi, the executive president of the Capital Market Authority; and Hamood Sangour Hashim Al Zadjali, the executive president of the Central Bank of Oman.
The first session is set to provide an insight into Oman’s economic development and how Islamic finance would be able to advance the country’s Vision 2020, with representatives from Bank Muscat, Bank Dhofar and Bank Nizwa featuring in this highly engaging discussion. The following session will be a strongly anticipated one as Omani financial regulators – Muscat Securities Market, Capital Market Authority and Central Bank of Oman – address the legal and regulatory framework that has evolved alongside the growth of Islamic finance activities.
The forum will then delve deeper into Oman’s Islamic capital market as Standard Chartered Bank, Emirates NBD Bank and MB Holding Company exchange views on how market players can contribute to develop a sustainable and efficient environment. The next segment of the forum will put a spotlight on the role of REITs in spurring further capital market activity, before moving on to an onstage interview between Ahmed Al Mamari, the director-general of the Directorate of Insurance Supervision at the Capital Market Authority, and Gautam Datta, CEO of National Takaful, on the growth of the Takaful sector in Oman.
IFN Oman Forum will wrap up with an IFN debate session on the topic of standardization and regulation, and if adherence to global standards would mean the stifling of innovation and growth. Concurrent to the forum, IFN will also be hosting an Islamic finance workshop for students in order for them to grasp a better understanding of the industry, as well as the Oman Dialogue. Now in its second year, the highly acclaimed IFN Oman Dialogue will once again bring together a select group of Oman’s leading Islamic finance practitioners and regulators, to openly discuss the benefits and concerns facing the Shariah compliant financing and investment market today.
Boasting a comprehensive agenda and covering a plethora of stimulating issues and developments, the IFN Oman Forum 2017 will gather industry practitioners from all over the world to discuss various ways and means to continue harnessing developments in the Omani market as the industry strives to maintain sustainable growth, with strong support from partners such as the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, Bank Nizwa and RFI Foundation, among many others.
