Conferences on Islamic banking in the past have tended to concentrate more on general and descriptive aspects of PLS Banking. Judging by the topics for the forthcoming conference, the range is getting wider, more specific and specialized. Perhaps above all there is increasingly an applied and theoretical approach to Islamic banking.
Perhaps the most significant conference on the agenda is the one to be held in Kuala Lumpur on July 5-6 at Pan Pacific Hotel, on the theme 'Second International Conference on the Challenges of Interest-free/Islamic Banking System: Successful Implementation and Operations of Islamic financial Markets, Products and Standards.'
The conference is being organized by the Singapore-based Centre for Management Technology (CMT), which in January set the Islamic banking conference ball rolling with another two-day conference in Kuala -Lumpur at which the Malaysian Deputy Finance Minister Senator Mustafa Muhammed gave the keynote speech.
Topics discussed included the future development of Islamic banking in Malaysia; 'Revenue-sharing' banking in Indonesia; Competitive Pricing of Islamic Banking Products; and Legal Issues in Islamic Banking.
The fact that CMT is organising a second conference in Kuala Lumpur in July suggests that the focus of Islamic banking has switched from the Gulf states to Malaysia and South Asia.
Although the subject range is much wider for the July conference, a number of the papers are similar to those given in the January event including Pakistan's Islamic banking model; Revenue Sharing Banking in Indonesia; the paper on Bank Islam Malaysia; the (Malaysian) Islamic Banking Act of 1993; and Legal Issues in Islamic Banking. Some of these are very general and need to be refined.
Nevertheless, some timely new papers will be presented on such pertinent issues as accounting in Islamic banking; taxation issues; research and development; Islamic stock broking and unit trusts; securitization and debt trading; treasury products and operations in Islamic banking; and Islamic syndicated financing.
According to the organisers, the conference hopes to attract much interest from officials, bankers and business people from the region and beyond. Other than the above conference, the first to kickoff is the one organised in Pakistan by the Asian branch of the International Association of Islamic Banks (IAIB) on 2nd April. The conference will be opened by Dr Muhammed Yacoub, Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and will also have delegates from Malaysia, Brunei, Bangladesh and India.
In May there are two specialised conferences planned - one in London on 'The Development of An Accounting System in Islamic Banking' to be held at the Holiday Inn (King's Cross) and organised by the London-based Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance (IIBI); and the other in Tehran on the 18-19 May entitled 'Islamic Banking System & the Stock Market' organised by the Ministry and Banking Research Institute of Iran.
The London-conference will have the Chief Executive Officer of the Geneva-based Dar Al Maal Al Islami{DMI}, Mr.Omer Abdi Ali as keynote speaker and a special paper by Professor Gambling on 'Accounting for Islamic Banking. 'The conference will explore the specific nature and problems of accounting and auditing relating to the accounts of Islamic banks.
The Tehran conference, which is part of a wider conference on 'Monetary and Foreign Exchange Policies' and is now an annual event, is specifically on Islamic banking in Iran, although there is a paper on comparative analysis of Islamic banking in various Islamic countries. The topics range from central banking issues; to problems facing the development of an interest-free securities market in Iran; and credit allocation policies.
The last major conference planned for l994 is the one organised by the Bahrain Ministry of Information and the IAIB, in cooperation with Reuters Corporation to be held in Manama in October. According to the organisers, IFTI, the conference promises to be a major international Islamic banking event.
Bahrain, over the last few years, has been vying to become the international Islamic banking centre. It already hosts a number of off-shore Islamic banks, a locally incorporated Bahrain-Islamic Bank, and a number of Islamic investment, trading and insurance companies. Last year the Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA) gave the go-ahead to the DMI subsidiary, the OBU Faisal Islamic Bank of Bahrain (FIBB) to open an on-shore branch.
The BMA is also setting the pace by helping to devise an Accounting System for Islamic banks in conjunction with the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank.
