Seminar on Islamic finance held

KARACHI: Islamic finance is growing in Pakistan and other parts of the world, but with Muslims representing one-fourth of the global population, Islamic finance has still a long way to go in terms of growth, says Chair of Norton Rose Fulbright at London, Farmida Bi.

The global Shariah-compliant assets at end of 2016 are estimated at $2.293 trillion, representing about 1.25 percent of global banking assets while Islamic finance has not been significantly affected by global financial crisis.

Speaking at an event hosted by Ahmed & Qazi on ‘Islamic finance: a global take’, the leading legal expert of Islamic finance in the world talked extensively about the legal and regulatory challenges that Islamic finance faced and overcame over the last two decades. The session was attended by senior executives from both Islamic and conventional banks.

Bi advises government of Pakistan and was also an advisor to Goldman Sachs on its first issue of $500 million Sukkuk.

The session also discussed difficulties that were faced when structuring financial models for large projects such as Queen Alia Airport and Medina Airport.

Famida Bi also explained how the British parliament and other legislatures in Europe are passing laws to put in place a more conducive legal regime to encourage development of Islamic finance in those countries.