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The decision by the UK Treasury to press ahead with its plans for the launch of the west’s first government sukuk, and only the fourth sovereign issue of this kind in the world, underscores the government’s commitment to establishing the UK as the dominant Islamic financial centre in this time zone. A UK government sukuk could be used to create sharia-compliant National Savings products for Muslim investors in Britain, thereby strengthening financial inclusiveness for the Muslim community. By pioneering the market and dealing with the legal, tax and other structural issues that have been potential impediments to the market’s development, the government is laying the groundwork for corporate and other issuers to issue their own sukuk bonds in the future.
Sukuk bonds represent an attractive means by which companies can diversify their funding sources - of particular importance given the global credit squeeze - and access a previously largely inaccessible liquidity pool of Middle East investors. The market has grown from virtually nothing in 2002 to almost $40 billion of new issuance in 2007, and is expected to grow at a rate of 10-15% a year for the next three to five years.
This important conference, which is being held three months after the close of the Government’s consultation, will provide a timely opportunity to review the progress that both the Government and the market are making towards making London the leading centre for sukuk issuance and trading in this time zone. A speaker panel of quite exceptional quality will examine both the challenges that remain and the opportunities that are rapidly emerging.
Attendance at this one-day summit will be useful for all those involved in London’s capital markets, including issuers, investors, intermediaries and advisers.
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Confirmed Speakers
Keynote Address
David Lewis, Lord Mayor of London
Expert Speaker Panel
Ijlal Ahmed Alvi, Chief Executive Officer, International Islamic Financial Market
Mohammed Amin, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Dr Adnan Aziz, Head of Sharia Advisory and Structuring, Director, BMB Islamic UK Ltd
John Davie, Head of International Business Development, Vector Management Limited, Member of the IFSL/British Expertise Islamic Finance Working Group, Chairman of the UKTI PPP Export Advisory Group and Member of the Financial Services Sector Advisory Board
Mahshoud Einollahi, Head of Islamic Finance Team, Deloitte
Jochen Robert Elsen, Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, Germany
Robert Gray, Vice Chairman, International Capital Market Association
Phelan Hill, HM Treasury
Raymond Hill, Head of Emerging Markets, Fitch Ratings
Abradat Kamalpour, Partner, Dechert LLP
James Knight, Senior Policy Advisor, UK Debt Management Office
Patrick Lamb, Acting Chief Executive, IFSL, Chairman of the IFSL/British Expertise Islamic Finance Working Group and Member of the UK Islamic Finance Experts Group
Ibrahim A. Mardam-Bey, CEO, Siraj Capital
Neil D. Miller, Head of Islamic Finance, Norton Rose LLP
Mark Payne, Partner, Clifford Chance
Arshadur Rahman, Financial Services Authority, UK
Shaykh Haytham Tamim, Chairman, Utruji Foundation
John Tattersall, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Nik Thani, Executive Director - Islamic Finance, Dubai International Financial Centre Authority
Richard Thomas, Managing Director, GSH UK, and Chairman of the UK Islamic Finance Subcommittee, UKTI
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