Participants and officials during the roundtable discussion.
Doha, Qatar: The Centre for Islamic Economics and Finance (CIEF) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) College of Islamic Studies (CIS) organised the 8th CEOs and Islamic Finance Leaders Roundtable, an annual event aimed at facilitating communication between the finance industry and academics.
The purpose of the event is to review and discuss strategies, as well as to better appreciate and understand each other’s roles in advancing the field of Islamic finance. This year’s roundtable topic discussed the future of Qatar’s Islamic wealth management landscape.
Dr. Recep Şentürk, CIS Dean, welcomed the participants to the event, held under the theme “Beyond Borders: Shaping Qatar’s Islamic Wealth Management Ecosystem for Global Impact.” He highlighted the significant transformation the global Islamic finance landscape is undergoing, and the role that Islamic wealth management is poised to play in this evolution. Qatar, with its robust Islamic finance ecosystem, strategic location, and commitment to ethical and sustainable investing, possesses immense potential to emerge as a global leader in this space.
Yousuf Mohamed Al Jaida, Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Authority CEO, gave the keynote address, emphasising the importance of gathering leadership figures from across the country’s Islamic finance sector for this annual knowledge exchange. The participants hailed from leading financial institutions in Qatar, including the Qatar Financial Centre Authority, Qatar Central Bank, Qatar Credit Bureau, Qatar Chamber of Commerce, Al Rayan Bank Investment, Lesha Bank LLC Public, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, K L Gates LLP, Hayat Business Consultant LLC, PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Morison Menon CA and Partners LLC, as well as Qatar University’s College of Business and faculty and staff from HBKU’s College of Islamic Studies and College of Public Policy.
Moderated by Dr. Ahmet Faruk Aysan, CIS Associate Dean for Research, the event saw leaders from the Islamic finance sector hold discussions on the potential of Qatar as a global leader in Islamic wealth management and explore the theoretical and practical considerations for doing so. Throughout the course of the roundtable, participants exchanged opinions on how the regulatory framework surrounding the sector would look like, infrastructure necessary to support the hub, and how to attract and develop the talent required to develop and grow Islamic wealth management in Qatar for the foreseeable future.
