Manama: Though the Islamic finance industry has enjoyed rapid growth over the past few years despite the effects of the global financial slowdown, a key challenge is to ensure that this growth is sustainable, even more so given the challenges inherent in the new global economic landscape.
It is against this backdrop that the 17th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC 2010) will be held from the 22nd – 24th of November 2010 at the Gulf Hotel, Kingdom of Bahrain. Speaking ahead of the conference, Abdul- Kareem Abu Al-Nasr, Chief Executive Officer, The National Commercial Bank – Saudi Arabia, noted that “this year's WIBC comes at a crucial time for the international industry as Islamic financial institutions seek to further advance their successful achievements in the new global financial landscape."
According to world-renowned investment leader and emerging markets guru, Mark Mobius, “since the bottom of the markets in early 2009, prices have risen from those very low levels. Nevertheless attractive valuations can be found since, on the average, those valuations are in the middle of their long term range.” Mark Mobius, the Executive Chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group - Singapore, will be speaking at a specially convened keynote session at WIBC 2010.
Providing regulatory perspectives on strengthening the industry foundations to sustain growth in a challenging climate, H.E. Rasheed M. Al Maraj, Governor, Central Bank of Bahrain; H.E. Abdul Qadeer Firtat, Governor, Central Bank of Afghanistan and H.E. Khaled Mohammed Al-Aboodi, Chief Executive Officer & General Manager, The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, the private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB), Saudi Arabia, will be speaking at the inaugural session of WIBC 2010.
More that 1,200 delegates from over 50 countries are set to attend WIBC 2010, the world’s largest annual gathering of Islamic finance leaders.
