Islamic finance: The opportunities and risks

With the expansion of Islamic finance prominent in the global financial services industry, Asia House partnered with DWF to hold a roundtable discussion to explore its current growth trend, as well as  the opportunities and risks.

The roundtable brought together leading professionals from the business and legal communities to explore the connection between Islamic finance principles, responsible finance, and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Umeira Ali, Global Head of Islamic Finance, DWF, was joined by Stella Cox CBE, Managing Director, DDCAP Group, and Stuart Hutton, Chief Investment Officer, Simply Ethical, to discuss regulatory challenges with Asia House Corporate Members.

The key point of discussion focused on the lack of standardisation and the need for institutional guidelines to encourage compliance across different sectors involved in Islamic finance. Reaching standardised regulations might be a difficult ambition – like legal systems, there are various schools of thought that underpin the principles of Islamic finance.

Highlighting the differences between Asia, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom, issuers and investors should not be stuck on the need to standardise regulations. Rather, they should aim towards the more realistic goal of harmonisation.