12th Islamic Financial Services Board summit in Almaty on May 19-21

The 12th Summit of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) will take place in Almaty from May 19 to 21, Tengrinews reports citing BNews.kz.

It is the first time the IFSB Summit will be hosted by a post soviet country.

The Summit facilitates dialogue between key players in the Islamic financial sphere. The current IFSB Summit will address issues in Islamic financing, control over Islamic institutions, regional and global cooperation, and plans for development of the sector.

According to the National Bank of Kazakhstan, a memorandum of understanding on conducting the Summit was signed by the National Bank of Kazakhstan and the IFSB on December 21, 2014.

The Summit was conducted for the first time in the UK in 2004. The following IFSB Summits were hosted by Qatar, Lebanon, the UAE, Jordan, Singapore, Bahrain, Luxembourg, Turkey, Malaysia, and Mauritius. The annual meeting is sponsored by central banks or regulatory institutions of a host country. Over 300 delegates from more than 35 countries gather for the annual Summit.

Hosting the event in Kazakhstan will be a step towards promoting Almaty as an Islamic financial hub in the CIS (post soviet space) and Central Asia.

According to the official website, the IFSB “serves as an international standard-setting body of regulatory and supervisory agencies that have vested interest in ensuring the soundness and stability of the Islamic financial services industry, which is defined broadly to include banking, capital market and insurance”. “As at December 2014, the 184 members of the IFSB comprise 59 regulatory and supervisory authorities, eight international inter-governmental organisations, 112 financial institutions and professional firms as well as five self-regulatory organisations (Industry Associations and Stock Exchanges) operating in 44 jurisdictions.”

Kazakhstan adopted a law on Islamic Financing in 2009, created conditions for Islamic banks, Islamic investment funds and started issuing Islamic securities. In 2011, another law that allowed issuing state Islamic securities was adopted.

To develop Islamic financing, insurance and leasing, Kazakhstan’s National Bank developed a draft bill introducing amendments and additions into some of its legislations concerning insurance and Islamic financing.

“At the moment, the draft bill is being consideration by the Kazakhstan Parliament. The government approved the Islamic Finance Development Roadmap till 2020 to create favorable conditions for registration of property-related transactions under murabaha, Ijarah, Istisna schemes; and to sign double taxation treaties with countries of South-East Asia and Middle East,” the National Bank website said.

By Gyuzel Kamalova