General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) have planned a meeting in Manama, Bahrain aiming to discuss issues of internationalization of Islamic financial services.

The roundtable meeting of the directors of Operations and Investment of Islamic banks, themed “Internationalization Strategies of Islamic Financial Institutions” will be held on February 23 and 24 in Manama, Bahrain.

The roundtable meeting is part of the Strategic Objective 3 - Awareness and Information Sharing of CIBAFI Strategic Plan 2015 – 2018. It is also in line with the IDB’s objectives in promoting development and supporting the Islamic financial services industry (IFSI).

It aims at creating a platform for sharing the best practices amongst the CIBAFI members and discussing issues and challenges of internationalization of the IFSI.

The internationalization of Islamic financial institutions presently is considered as one of the topical themes to boost global linkages in the IFSI. Recent initiatives have been taken by IFIs, supported by local regulators, to establish themselves at the global level through expanding their operations and investments across borders.

Hence, this Roundtable Meeting (RM) on “Internationalization Strategies of Islamic Financial Institutions” aims to explore recent opportunities and challenges in the area of internationalization of IFIs in several key fronts, and to provide a common platform for sharing best practices amongst industry experts and leaders in international operations. The specific focus of the RM includes global operations and expansions, cross-border syndicated financing, and trade financing.

The roundtable meeting will be convened in two days consisting of five sessions:

•    Heterogeneity in Islamic finance development, Shariah and regulatory frameworks across different jurisdictions;

•    Key requirements for internationalization, modes of entry, and strategies to achieve competitive positioning of foreign Islamic financial institutions;

•    Rebranding as an expansion strategy for Islamic Financial Institutions;

•    Cross-border Islamic syndicated financing; and

•    Trade financing for IFSI to boost global real-sector linkages to go mainstream.

 Participation in the Roundtable Meeting is by invitation only, targeted group of participants are heads of global markets, chief financial officers, heads of global trade finance, heads of syndicated financing, and heads of other relevant functions in Islamic financial institutions.  – TradeArabia News Service