IFC Seminar

The Islamic Financial Services Board, the World Bank Group Corporate Governance Department, and the IFC Global Corporate Governance Forum are organising a joint seminar on corporate governance issues in Islamic finance. The two-day seminar will be hosted in Manama by the Central Bank of Bahrain on March 11 to 12, 2008.

The Seminar aims to increase awareness of corporate governance issues in Islamic finance, including banking, insurance, and capital markets (particularly collective investment schemes), among financial regulators and market participants. It will be structured around the corporate governance standards that were developed by the Islamic Financial Services Board, with insights from regulatory officials, corporate governance specialists from international multilateral agencies, and industry practitioners.

H.E. Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, and Professor Rifaat Ahmed Abdel Karim, Secretary General of the Islamic Financial Services Board, will deliver the opening and welcoming remarks.

Peter Dey, Chairman of the Forum's Private Sector Advisory Group, will deliver a keynote address on the Cross-Sectoral Approach toward Good Governance. Dey served as chairman of the Toronto Stock Exchange Committee on Corporate Governance in Canada, which released a report entitled Where Were the Directors? (also known as the Dey Report) in December 1994. He will be joined by 21 other speakers.

The seminar's main objectives are to:

Highlight corporate governance issues specific to institutions that offer Islamic financial services and to help regulators and market participants improve their understanding of these, especially as the Islamic financial services industry continues to grow rapidly within the global financial system.

Provide stakeholders an opportunity to exchange views and experience about good governance frameworks and best practices.

Generate discussion and policy recommendations about strengthening and improving the corporate governance of institutions that offer Islamic financial services, in accordance with internationally accepted standards.

Those interested in attending the seminar can download the registration form from www.ifsb.org.