26th October 2020, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain | The General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions, the global umbrella of Islamic financial institutions, has successfully launched this afternoon another series of its Online Technical Workshops. The workshop on “Products Development and Financial Engineering for Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs)”, is delivered in French language and will run for 2 days.
Technical Workshop is targeted to the professional staff of Islamic banks and financial institutions. It aims to engage participants in the discussion on how Islamic principles can be used to develop financial products by introducing the principles that form the building blocks of contemporary Islamic financial products and then discussing the more intricate issues relating to products development processes.
Key concepts and principles of products development in Islamic finance as well as the importance of innovation within Islamic financial services industry especially during this period of transformation will also be introduced and discussed during the workshop.
The CIBAFI Global Islamic Bankers’ Survey (GIBS) 2020 revealed that for Islamic banks in particular, it is important to increase awareness on the new technological trends and advancements, and accelerate the adoption process, in order to sustain and reinforce their position in a competitive market where customer demands for innovative services is ever increasing, and where customers continuously expect more efficient and improved banking experiences.
It is for this reason that CIBAFI organized this technical workshop with an aim to increase and enhance the performance of the participants, which in turn will lead to an improved quality of work and will enable them to design new products and services tailored to the needs of their customer.
The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. Abdelilah Belatik, Secretary General of CIBAFI and witnessed a special address by H.E. Dr. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) and Accreditation Board (AcB) member of CIBAFI. Industry leaders were also invited to speak during the workshop. Among those who shared their expertise were Mr. Issami Abdessamad; President Du Directoire; Umnia Bank; Mr. Hideur Nasser; General Manager; Al Salam Bank – Algeria and Mr. Majed Gharsalli, Head of Shariah Compliance and Audit, Zitouna Bank, Tunisia.
CIBAFI Technical Workshops are aligned with CIBAFI’s third objective of Training and Professional Empowerment which endeavors to enhance capacity building within the Islamic financial service industry (IFSI). These programmes are practical in nature and are targeted to staff of Islamic banks and Islamic financial institutions, regulators and practitioners. They aim to engage participants in the discussion on the current environment of the Islamic banking and post-crisis developments.
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.