11th June 2019, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain, Istanbul, Turkey | The General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions, the global umbrella of Islamic financial institutions, launched this morning a Technical Workshop on “ Stress Testing for Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs)”. CIBAFI Technical Workshop is being held in Istanbul, Turkey and is kindly hosted by the Istanbul School of Central Banking of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.
Mrs. Zainab Al Owainaty, Director of Administration and Finance at CIBAFI, and Mr. Arda Tekirdağ, Specialist at the Istanbul School of Central Banking a directorate under the organization of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey have opened the workshop, welcoming the delegates from Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Libya, Ghana, Ethiopia, USA, Kuwait and Turkey representing Islamic banks and financial institutions, international institutions as well as Regulatory and Supervisory Authorities (RSAs).
Commenting on the Technical Workshop, Mr. Abdelilah Belatik, Secretary General of CIBAFI said: “We are happy to return to Istanbul once again after a successful CIBAFI Global Forum in 2018 to organise this time a workshop on Stress Testing for IFIs, in cooperation with the Istanbul School of central Banking of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. This initiative is part of CIBAFI’s new strategic plan 2019 – 2022 and falls under CIBAFI’s third Strategic Objective of training and professional empowerment aiming to enhance the skills of the human resources within the Islamic financial industry. Given the rapidly changing macroeconomic environment, Stress Testing is a vital exercise for IFIs to be alerted of any unexpected adverse events that could affect their business and what precautions are needed to overcome these situations. Thus, this workshop seeks to enhance the participants’ understanding of stress testing and guide them in the practical application of issues addressed in the stress test standards.”
The workshop will run for three days of which the participants will be exposed to the discussions on the main guidelines underpinning sound stress tests and examine different stress testing scenarios that address multiple types of risks, as well as a wide range of case studies, exercises and experience sharing sessions facilitated by senior representatives from the International Monetary Fund, United Stated of America; Banking Regulatory and Supervisory Agency of Turkey; Kuwait Finance House, Kuwait and PwC Turkey. It will also examine different techniques of stress testing and the crucial role it plays in capital planning and capital management as well as the role of the regulatory authorities in managing industry-wide stress testing.
Commenting on the Technical workshop Mr. Ergun Meriç, Executive Director of the Istanbul School of Central Banking, said: “It is our pleasure to cooperate with CIBAFI, the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions, to organise this technical workshop in Istanbul, Turkey. Since its establishment in 2013, the ISCB has successfully served as a platform for thought provoking discussions and analysis on global economic and financial challenges with a special emphasis on central banking topics. We are certain that this workshop will provide great insights to the participants through its diversified sessions which include experience sharing by leading global experts and the discussion of current practices within the industry.” Technical workshop is a joint initiative that is aligned with CIBAFI’s third objective of Training and Professional Empowerment which endeavors to enhance capacity building in the Islamic financial services industry (IFSI). CIBAFI, as the ‘voice’ of the industry, aims to provide high-level platforms to develop the human capital and bring industry professionals together to encourage dialogue and enhance knowledge sharing on most relevant matters to the IFSI.