IFN OnAir

Sustainable and green Sukuk are the poster child of the Islamic ESG sector. But what are the factors an issuer needs to consider before tapping this asset class? In this episode, we speak to Chung Chee Leong, the CEO of Cagamas, the National Mortgage Corporation of Malaysia. Cagamas is the country’s largest debt issuer, which has also issued Sustainable Sukuk, to explore what issuers can learn from Cagamas’ experience.

We speak to Jennifer Schwalbenberg, chief governance office of DDCAP Group, a market-leading Islamic intermediary firm which has positioned sustainable and ethical finances its driving force. Jennifer elaborates how the UN PRI Signatory is tackling the Islamic sustainability agenda, which could be an example for other market players.

Compliance has a cost – and this also true in the case of Islamic sustainable finance. In this episode, we speak to Farmida Bi, the chair for Europe, Middle East and Asia at international legal firm Norton Rose Fulbright and the firm’s European Islamic finance head, to understand the regulatory landscape for Islamic sustainable finance.

Sustainable finance is touted as the future of the Islamic finance industry. But how has the asset class fared so far? What innovation are we seeing in this space? Which markets are leading? In this episode, we speak to Bashar Al Natoor, the global head of Islamic finance at Fitch Ratings to canvas the global Islamic sustainable finance landscape

Khurram Hilal, Standard Chartered Bank’s CEO of global Islamic banking, describes Islamic and sustainable finance as a match made in heaven. In this episode, Khurram walks us through why he thinks this sector is ripe for the picking and share with us Standard Chartered’s Islamic sustainable finance strategy.

Islamic sustainable finance is a very compelling proposition. But while it looks good on paper, it is harder to materialize in reality. In this episode, we speak to Dr Scott Levy, the CEO of Bedford Row Capital, and Professor Kevin Haines, Bedford Row Capital’s head of social policy, to understand if there is a hesitancy among Islamic issuers to enter the sustainable finance space and how we can overcome this.

How does one miniaturize the Islamic economy? One tech company is attempting to do that. IBF Net Group, which has a presence in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Dublin is on a mission to leverage technology to create a Halal ecosystem with a focus on Islamic social finance. In this episode, we speak to CEO-designate Mohammed Alim to find out more about the blockchain projects the group has rolled out and understand the role of technology within the Islamic sustainable finance narrative.

We often use the terms ethical finance and Islamic finance interchangeably. But there are meaningful differences between Shariah compliant finance and the wider sustainability concepts, which also translates into performance differences. In this episode, we speak to Michael Orzano, the senior director of global equity indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices, to understand these distinctions and explore if taking the Islamic ESG road is worth the cost.

In this episode, Shakeel Adli, a partner and the global head of Islamic finance at CMS, provides his analysis on the global real estate market which, while it has been impacted by the global health crisis, has performed considerably well as Islamic investors grow in sophistication.  

Despite the pandemic which has caused project delays globally, the Islamic project finance has performed relatively well. Mohammed Paracha, the head of the Middle East of Norton Rose Fulbright, however, notes that there are immediate challenges the industry must take stock of.