IFN OnAir

Post-COP28, what continue to be key features and challenges of regional Islamic asset management, and how are crucial ESG considerations being incorporated? How are investors continuing to encourage portfolio companies to manage long-term climate-related risk and social impact? How is Islamic sustainable investment being supported by innovative activities such as carbon trading, and what opportunities are presented by the carbon markets? What is a realistic assessment of regional ESG guidelines and global taxonomies and their influence on Islamic investors? We seek the views of an influential panel.Moderator:Aruna Narayanan, Founder and Chief Impact Enabler, Real Impact SolutionsPanelists:Husam Abdel Al, Senior Director, Origination and Head of Sustainable Finance, Investment Banking, MashreqLuma Saqqaf, Director – Middle East, Africa, India, UN Principles for Responsible InvestmentPrasad Dhake, Manager, Markets, Strategy and Risk, Dubai Financial Services AuthorityRazvan Dumitrescu, Sustainable Finance Director, Emirates NBD CapitalSharifatul Hanizah Said Ali, Executive Director, Islamic Capital Market Development, Securities Commission Malaysia

What are the key technological integrations and partnerships that are reshaping regional Islamic asset management, and how are regulators responding to innovation? How are AI and machine learning remodeling asset allocation and how is the implementation of tokenization set to change the industry? What represent the latest Shariah compliant digital assets in use today, and are ECF and P2P platforms fulfilling their potential regionally? What are recent product innovations based on precious metals, and are they significant?Moderator:Shah Fahad, Deputy Director-General, BTD International Fund HousePanelists:Ali Allawala, Head Islamic Banking – UAE and Head Wealth and Retail Banking – Group Islamic Banking, Standard Chartered SaadiqKhalid Howladar, Chairman, MRHB DeFiPaula Tavangar, Chief Investment Officer, Injaz CapitalSaleh Al-Tamami, Co-Founder and CEO, MamunUmair Javed, Chief Business Officer, Fasset

How is private capital influencing regional financial markets? How is private credit transforming GCC corporate financing, and what approach should regulators take? What are opportunities for private equity investment and how can this market be effectively navigated? What are opportunities for early-stage Shariah compliant venture capital, and can the success of global venture funds be emulated regionally? How have regional Islamic REITs and property funds performed and what is the likely evolution of these vehicles? Finally, with many infrastructure funds being Shariah compliant, how can this powerful source of capital be harnessed for GCC infrastructure development?Moderator:Dr Scott Levy, CEO, Yasaar CapitalPanelists:Anita Wieja-Caruba, Associate Director, Policy and Legal, Dubai Financial Services AuthorityDr John Sandwick, General Manager, Safa Investment ServicesOliver Agha, Professional Associate, Outer Temple ChambersZakaria Karkouri, Executive Director – Structuring and Product Development, First Abu Dhabi BankZohaib Patel, Managing Partner, Tenami Capital

What represents a holistic and efficient Islamic investment ecosystem, and what is an effective regulatory environment to foster growth for the sector? What are notable recent developments in global Islamic investment management, including those influencing investment patterns, asset allocation and product innovation? What role is technology playing in the evolution of Islamic asset management, and what are the key challenges and opportunities? How are savings and investment rates being stimulated in the GCC, and are suitable Shariah compliant products being developed to meet market needs? We ask an expert panel.Moderator:Frederik Wijsenbeek, Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Ethos InvestPanelists:Arsalan Tariq, Partner and Head of Banking and Finance, BSA LawFahd Chaudhry, Director, Client Coverage MENA, CIS and Turkey, S&P Dow Jones IndicesHakan Ozyon, CEO, Hejaz Financial ServicesMariam Veronica Abu Bakkar Seddek, Director, Group Head Institutional and Islamic Asset Management, Kenanga InvestorsOliver von Wolff, Founder and CEO, Helion CapitalShah Fahad, Deputy Director General, BTD International Fund House

Ahmed Kareem El Kenzi, Director, BTD International Fund House – Luxembourg

Takaful Oman’s CEO Neelmani Bhardwaj shares insights into the burgeoning Islamic insurance sector of the Sultanate, as well as Takaful Oman’s expansion plans in the short and medium term, with IFN’s Nessreen Tamano in this podcast episode.

In this IFN Podcast episode, Munirah Khairuddin, the country head and CEO of Principal Asset Management Malaysia speaks to Nessreen Tamano of IFN about the rising popularity and impact of digital investing, especially in the context of Shariah compliant finance, in Malaysia and around the world.

Estate planning is a major challenge in Malaysia, with the upper bound of frozen assets estimated at RM90 billion (US$19.36 billion). In this episode of the podcast, Marlena Kareem, the editor of ISFI, speaks to Ariffin Sabirin, the founder of Wasiyyah Shoppe, and Khairul Nisa Ismail, CEO of Sedania As Salam Capital, about how they are collaborating to address the Muslim estate planning challenge with the Hibah instrument. 

The mainstreaming of digital lending has overhauled the risk landscape for banks and financial institutions. How should the finance industry adapt? In this episode, Vineeta Tan speaks to Guru Raghavendran, the senior vice-president of banking practice at Azentio Software, to explore this topic.

Carbon credits are positioned as a potential avenue to alleviate some of the global climate pressures emanating from carbon emissions. But they are not without critics. Are they a viable asset class and how can we best optimize carbon credits and offsets? My name is Vineeta Tan, the managing editor of IFN. To understand this, in this episode, Vineeta Tan speaks to Professor Lisa Wilson, the managing director of XTCC, a Shariah compliant investment platform for carbon credits; and Dr Scott Levy, the managing director of Al Waseelah and founder of XTCC. 

Air Selangor issued its largest SRI Sukuk to date in October 2023. In this episode, Marlena Kereem, the editor of Islamic Sustainable Finance and Investment, sits down with Kevin Lee Shih-Min, the head of finance and strategy at Air Selangor, to talk about this landmark issuance and its SRI Sukuk strategy moving forward. 

There is a noticeable shift from traditional bank financing toward alternative financing across multiple asset classes in the GCC and beyond, which is resulting in the rise of instruments such as venture debt funds. In this episode, brought to you by King and Spalding, Asal Saghari and Mike Rainey explore this trend, bringing us expert insights and analyses to help us understand this shift and how it impacts the financing landscape. Nathan Kwon joins as a special guest. 

There are areas of opportunities in the Islamic private equity and venture capital space, particularly in the GCC and Southeast Asian regions, where Lim Say Cheong, the CEO of Saudi Venture Capital Investment Company, has focused on in the last decade. He shares his insights with IFN in this episode with Nessreen Tamano.

reNIKOLA Solar II issued the world's first Climate Bonds Initiative-certified Sukuk in September this year. Marlena Kareem, the editor of ISFI, speaks to Khong Ho Ming, the executive director and COO of reNIKOLA, about this landmark issuance.

The Islamic insurtech sector in Malaysia is still relatively small, but CEO of Ouch!, Shazy Noorazman, believes that more players will emerge as the digital Takaful opportunity is hard to ignore. Shazy discusses the prospects and pain points of the industry in this episode with Vineeta Tan. 

Ratings play a significant role in the voluntary carbon market space.  Marlena Kareem, the editor of ISFI, speaks to Ronan Carr, the chief research officer at BeZero Carbon, about the role of ratings in the carbon market, its recent issuance of the world’s first pre-issuance rating for a carbon project as well as the mispricing of carbon credits.

What steps are necessary to ensure Islamic sustainable investors are offered a common definition of climate risk standards in ASEAN? What is driving innovation of Islamic sustainable and social finance and investment products, and are we successfully creating products which satisfy both Shariah and ESG requirements? How do systematic tilts in portfolio allocation resulting from Shariah screens influence ESG integration in the development of Shariah-screened ESG funds? What is the role of the asset management sector in directing capital to social causes, and how can Waqf be further deployed to facilitate this? How are investors using ESG data and indices to benchmark and measure portfolio performance and is data still a challenge for the industry? We ask an expert panel.Moderator:Vineeta Tan, Managing Editor and Director, Islamic Finance newsPanelists:Amit Pathak, Director, Head of ESG Index Products for Asia Pacific, S&P Dow Jones IndicesElias Moubarak, Partner, Trowers & HamlinsShahariah Shaharudin, President, Saturna Malaysia

What is driving the shift toward transition and sustainability-linked bonds and Sukuk issuance, and how do we maintain this momentum? What options do the deployment of sustainability-linked financing structures offer issuers, and are they properly understood? How do we better identify viable underlying assets for transition and sustainability-linked issuance, while also verifying the actual uses of proceeds? What role does transition and sustainability-linked finance play in the development of sustainable projects and infrastructure development? How can adherence to KPIs in the post-issuance process be assured and what tools are available for this purpose, such as second-party opinions and external review? We seek the views of an expert panel.Moderator:Marlena Kareem, Editor, Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment, REDmoney GroupPanelists:Dr Ayaz Ismail, Director – Wholesale Banking, CIMB Islamic BankBasheer Ahmad, Listing Authority, Markets, Dubai Financial Services AuthorityJeffrey Lee, Vice-President, Regional Manager APAC, Sustainable Finance, Moody’s Investors ServiceMillie Yap, Director, Debt Capital Markets, HSBCDr Mohamad Zabidi Ahmad, Regional Chief Representative, DDCAP Group

Do currently available taxonomies adequately address sector-specific transition concerns and what are salient additions to later versions?Assessing disclosure requirements and developing an effective climate change curriculum for financial institutionsHow are governments and exchanges enabling the trading of carbon credits, and what are the objectives and benefits of such initiatives?Defining the role of the financial sector in facilitating an effective energy transition in conjunction with the National Energy PolicyHow will the pace of adoption of ESG by SMEs impact the banking sector and capital markets?Moderator:Sharifatul Hanizah, Executive Director, Islamic Capital Market Development, Securities Commission MalaysiaPanelists:Bilal Parvaiz, Executive Director and Head Islamic Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking, Standard Chartered SaadiqLouis Booth, APAC Commercial Lead, SylveraMohd Ekmal Mohd Zazi, Regional Head, Wholesale Banking, CIMB Islamic BankSedef Gunsur, Senior Investment Officer, Financial Institutions Group, International Finance Corporation

Interviewee: Azman Mokhtar, Chairman, Malaysia International Islamic Finance Centre Leadership CouncilInterviewer: Zainal Izlan Zainal Abidin, Former Deputy Chief Executive, Securities Commission Malaysia