061009 Leading UK Shariah scholars debate investment management at SII/IFC Scholars' CPD programme, London

The UK Islamic Finance Council, in association with the Securities & Investment Institute (SII) has held the next event in its Shariah scholars’ CPD programme discussing conventional financial services market topics.

The CPD programme was hosted by Simmons & Simmons, the international law firm, on 3 October in London and was attended, amongst others, by:

· leading UK Shariah scholars including Mufti Barkatullah Abdul Kadir and Mufti Muhammad urullah Shikder who sit on the boards of Lloyds TSB, Gatehouse Bank Plc, GFH and Al-Buraq

· Iqbal Asaria, a leading figure in Islamic finance in the UK, who presented on Islamic stock screening

Key subjects included investment management and a discussion on alternative investment classes.

Topical debate at this session surrounded portfolio construction and the challenges in creating an appropriately balanced Shariah compliant investment portfolio.

Ruth Martin, SII managing director, said: “Supporting the Islamic Finance Council’s initiative is integral to cross-cultural understanding of the western and Shariah models of finance, an initiative that the SII has been pleased to sponsor this year.”

Muneer Khan, a partner at Simmons & Simmons and its Head of Islamic Finance said: “Simmons & Simmons were delighted to be able to host and support this event as equipping Shariah scholars with a more advanced understanding of financial products is vital for the long term development of the Islamic finance industry.”

IFC Chairman Tariq Masood said: “I was delighted to see the Shariah scholars sign up as members of the IFC /SII CPD Programme – an important step for the development of the UK Islamic finance industry that will provide a platform from which they can develop to support the growing industry.”

This unique scholars' CPD programme was launched in July 2008 by the UK Treasury with the full backing of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI). The IFC/SII Scholar Professional Development Programme is an exclusively tailored conventional markets training programme, designed to assist Shariah scholars and those associated with the Shariah assurance process to have a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of conventional financial markets, covering both key fundamental mechanics and contemporary issues.

The first IFC/SII scholar CPD programme run outside of the UK was launched in Malaysia in July this year, hosted and co-organised by ISRA, the Islamic research academy arm of the world-renowned global university in Islamic finance, INCEIF.

Ends