The Board of Directors of the International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) held its forty-sixth (46th) meeting (virtually) to discuss the Islamic finance standard-setting body’s new standardization and industry development initiatives.
The meeting was opened by Mr. Ijlal Ahmed Alvi (Chief Executive Officer and Secretary to the Board of IIFM) by welcoming all the participating Board members. The Vice Chairman of IIFM, Mr. Nik Mohamed Din Bin Nik Musa (Labuan Financial Services Authority, Malaysia) chaired the meeting where participants were Mr. Arief Hartawan (Bank Indonesia), Dr. Mansur Noibi (Islamic Development Bank), Mr. Shukri Ahmad (Brunei Darussalam Central Bank), Mr. Abubaker Mohamed (Central Bank of Sudan), Mr. Hammad Hassan (Bank ABC Islamic), Mr. Hamza Khalid Bawazir (Saudi National Bank), Mr. Ahsan Ali (Standard Chartered Saadiq), Mr. Rami Falah (BNP Paribas), Mr. Salah Sharif (GFH Financial Group) and Mr. Kamal Abdelkarim Hassan (Kuwait Finance House-Bahrain). From IIFM Management and Secretariat, Dr. Ahmed Rufai (Head of Compliance/Shari‘ah, IIFM) also participated in the meeting.
The Board of Directors welcomed Mr. Arief Hartawan, Head of Islamic Economics and Finance Department at Bank Indonesia as the new Director representing Bank Indonesia on IIFM Board. The Board of Directors also welcomed BNP Paribas to the IIFM Board represented by Mr. Rami Falah, Head of Islamic Banking, Middle East & Africa.
At the meeting, the Directors deliberated on IIFM priority initiatives namely standardization of Islamic syndication documentation and additional Islamic liquidity management instrument.
IIFM has formed a Syndication Standardization Core Working Group consisting of leading institutions from key jurisdictions to finalize the consultation paper which will be deliberated upon at the IIFM industry consultation meeting planned to take place during Q3 2022. Based on the meeting recommendations, IIFM may commence the standardization initiative.
The Board assessed the growing need for developing an additional Islamic liquidity management tool and approved the formation of a global working group and to organize an industry consultation meeting in 2022 so that actual development work may commence based on the recommendations from the market.
The board members stressed on the importance of key stakeholders’ participation in IIFM standardization working groups from most of the jurisdictions where Islamic finance is practiced and emerging.—Zawya News
