IFN OnAir

In a conversation with IFN Managing Editor Vineeta Tan, global finance pundit Andrew Sheng expounds on the ways we could move toward a more equitable and sustainable future including by investing in social enterprises and exploring Shariah compliant equity-based financial models as the current debt-based system is not sustainable. 

Dr Aishath Muneeza, who was personally involved in structuring all the corporate Sukuk offered in the Maldives as well as the private sukuk and Islamic treasury instruments for the government of Maldives, talks to IFN's Emir Zainul about the challenges of issuing Sukuk in the Maldives, as she highlights the lack of awareness and legal constraints in the Islamic finance industry in the country. 

S Zuhair Naqvi, the founder and CEO of Halal mortgage business EQRAZ, talks to IFN's Nessreen Tamano about what he would like to see more of in the Canadian Islamic finance industry in the near future, including more awareness and knowledge on Shariah products by both industry players and customers, and re-building the Muslim community's trust in the Halal home financing sector.

There is increasing pressure on banks to adopt effective climate risk management practices. Vineeta Tan speaks with Madelena Mohamed, the director of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)’s Sustainability Unit, to understand how financial institutions in Malaysia are to approach climate risks, within the context of BNM's new Climate Risk Management and Scenario Analysis policy document.  

With the upcoming COP28 to be held in a Muslim jurisdiction for the second year in a row, the spotlight is very much on the Islamic finance industry on how it can contribute to the global decarbonization efforts. ISFI speaks to Joe Clinton and Afsha Karim from Allen & Overy about some of the legal challenges Islamic financial institutions face in the green financing space.

In this episode, Vineeta Tan speaks to the co-founders of German Islamic fintech start-up INAIA, Bilgehan Akbiyik and Emre Akyel, to understand how COVID-19 has altered the fledgling Shariah finance landscape in Germany, and how digitalization is playing a vital role in tapping this market.

Shahruladeri Mohamad Adnan, CEO of CIB Capital and formerly the director of business development at the Labuan International Business and Financial Centre, shares insights on Labuan’s Islamic finance industry, particularly the Sukuk market, in this episode of IFN Podcast, with news editor Nessreen Tamano.

ISFI speaks to Rizwan Hussein, CEO and managing director of Salaam Takaful, about the challenges of offering crop Takaful coverage as well as its plans for 2023.

• Opportunity knocks: the dazzling global prospects for Islamic sustainable finance and investment.
• Important considerations in the development of efficacious Islamic sustainable investment products.
• Understanding the structure and benefits of transition, sustainable and sustainability-linked investment products.
• Managing important sustainable investment regulatory, reporting and disclosure requirements for issuers and investors.
• Fit for purpose: measuring the long-term benefit of green and sustainable financial investments and avoiding the issue of greenwashing.
• Stress-testing credit and investment portfolios for climate risk, and the role of regulators.
• With ESG and sustainability continuing to grow in Islamic capital market issuance, when will we see the measurement of impact?
• Are sufficient issuers engaging with independent, third parties to measure green, sustainable and social credentials?
• Are tax environments in the GCC less conducive toward green issuances?

• The digitalization of Islamic financial services: what is working, what is viable and what is not? What do the answers to these questions mean for the evolution of Islamic financial services in Saudi Arabia?
• Does digitalization allow us to better address issues such as product authenticity and the minimization of uncertainty?
• Is the success of neobanks inevitable, and how will they change the market?
• How will the development, provision and distribution of digital Islamic financial services evolve in the near-term?
• How are global regulators creating an environment for the enhancement of the Islamic financial services’ sector digital infrastructure?
• Beyond retail: developing and distributing effective and attractive suites of Shariah compliant digital wealth management, investment and insurance solutions.
• The development of systems and software for Islamic banks: driving scale, integrity and efficiency.
• The tangible benefits of peer-to-peer lending and equity crowdfunding: how these key technologies can be further applied to today’s banking and financial markets.
• The evolution of robo-advisory and digital investment managers: threat to or opportunity for incumbent money managers?
• How are Stablecoins, non-fungible tokens, utility tokens, equity tokens and other digital assets being applied to global financial markets?
• What is the potential for new and structured products based on cryptocurrencies for the global market: ETFs and complex leverage mechanisms such as DeFi?