Transcript Slide 1

How Islamic Banking Becomes Safe in
International Financial Crises
Presented By: Faraaz Shaul Hameed
Thrust of the Presentation
•
First Global at a glance
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Sri Lanka as business center
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Introduction
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Issues & Challenges in the Islamic Finance World?
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Basics of islamic finance (IF)
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The financial crisis – what caused it?
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Why did the financial systems crumble?
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Islamic finance – An alternative
First Global at a glance
Recognized contributor to Islamic finance locally and globally
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First Global incorporated as public limited liability company in November 2007 in
Colombo, Sri Lanka
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Received Aspiring Leader award in the global Islamic finance industry
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Instrumental in Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank’s venture into Islamic Banking, branded “Meethaq”
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Silver Award for Financial Related Services at Sri Lanka Malaysia Business Awards 2008,
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First Global with Investec Capital were joint lead arrangers for the first-ever Sri Lankan Sukuk
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In the Islamic Business & Finance Awards 2008 conducted by CPI Financial, First Global was a finalist
in the categories Best Advisory Services and Best Investment House along with prominent players
like Ernst & Young, McKenzie, and Unicorn Investment Bank
Our business lines
Sri Lanka as business center
 Strategically located at crossroads of East and West
 Business-friendly open economy with attractive and
transparent investment laws offering the most businessfriendly climate in South Asia
 Highly literate labour force with high quality of life
 “Peace dividend” as end of almost three decades of
ethnic war enables public spending on infrastructure
projects
 Reawakening Programme aims to restore livelihoods
through agriculture and irrigation projects
Size
65,610 sq. km
Population
20.2 million
Per Capita GNP
USD 1,969
Languages
Sinhala, Tamil,
English
Ethnic Groups
Buddhists 77%
Hindus 8%
Muslims 9%
Christians 6%
1975
The birth of modern
experiment with Islamic
Banking
2010
20% tapped
Last 35 Years
Achievements
80% untapped
Moving Islamic finance to new horizons…
2015
2020
10-Year Master Plan
To tackle issues & challenges
Active Infrastructure Institutions
– IFSB, GCIBIF, AAOIFI, IIFM, IIRA..
Sukuk Issues, Fund of Funds, Market
Makers, Secondary Market
Market shift …
50 Years of
Excellence –
Moving ahead..
Windows, Independent branches, Subsidiaries
2025
Conversions + Mergers
Islamic & Conventional banks
Issues & Challenges in the Islamic Finance
World?
No Lender of Last Resort?
No International Islamic Money Market
No Common Agreement on Shari'ah Issues?
No secondary market for
global Issues?
Absence of/Underdeveloped Islamic Capital Market?
Non-acceptance of standards, accounting practices by the industry players?
No Harmonization of Islamic products or instruments?
Integration of Islamic and International financial markets.
No uniform regulatory and legal framework
Emerging Stock Markets not fully
compatible with Shari'ah
Innovation on Islamic Funds,
still very slow
Educating the masses – lack of awareness
Islamic Banking & Finance is safe, given the global crisis
- beyond economic and financial benefits…
Moral
Ethical
Social
Religious
Social, moral &
ethical life
Knowledge
& learning
Politics &
Governance
Commerce &
Economy
Ethics & Etiquettes
Law & Justice
Hygiene
Human Rights &
Relations
and more….
Basics of islamic finance (IF)
• The following is the Fundamental Difference between Islamic Finance and its
conventional counterparts
No
Interest
No Speculation/
Uncertainty
Profit/
Loss
Sharing
Asset
Based
Shariah Law
- Quran
- Sunnah
- Fiqh
The financial crisis – what caused it?
• Reckless lending fuelled by greed and irresponsible and excessive risk taking to
achieve higher profits
• Banks losing their vocation – traders rather than lenders
• Very fancy instruments developed with no substance other than a lot of hype
and lack of transparency of its underlying value
The financial crisis – what caused it?
• Rising defaults among mortgage borrowers
• Low interest rates causing a housing bubble that was bound to eventually burst
• Insufficient regulations of sub prime mortgage lending practices
• Insufficient monitoring of complex financial products and services,
– Rating agencies and derivatives markets
• ‘Short selling’
– Selling assets that one does not own
• Rating Agencies giving very liberal ratings to instruments
Why did the financial systems crumble?
• Over supply of houses in US housing market
• Speculative purchases of real estate
• Indiscriminate mortgage lending
• Rising Interest rates leading to resetting of mortgage loans together with oil
price hikes in turn high default rates
• Unprecedented financial leverage which gave high profits during the good
times now led to very large losses
• Banks holding such paper had to raise additional capital
Islamic finance – An alternative
• Basic principles
• Prohibitions
• How could Islamic finance have prevented the crisis
• Can Islamic finance come out of the mess?
• Islamic Finance Infrastructure Institutions (IFII’s)
• Successes of Islamic finance
Basic principles
• Islamic economics and financial system is based on values, ideals and morals
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Ethical practices and fairness in all endeavors
• Prohibits economic and financial transactions that engage lying, gambling,
cheating, monopoly, exploitation, greed, unfairness and unjustly taking
people’s money
• Promotes participation in profit, loss and actual exchanges of money and assets
• No constant winner or loser; yet profit and loss is mutually shared
In a nutshell- Islamic Finance centers around Justice!!
Prohibitions – Riba/Usury (Interest)
• Money is only a means of exchange – no intrinsic value
• Trading of debts/receivables prohibited
• Payment and receipt of interest is totally prohibited
• Interest bearing investments are prohibited
• Earnings must be by ‘profit sharing investments’ or ‘fee based’ returns
• Risk sharing - the risk taker is justly rewarded
Interest rate may be used as a means of calculating profit element or quantum of
rent
Prohibitions – Maisir (Speculation)
• Gambling or any form of speculation akin to gambling
– Swaps, futures, options and other derivatives
– Contracts that insure for a profit
• Speculation is taboo under Islamic law
• Money proffered must be backed by collateral
• Islamic Financial instruments must always carry a face value
• Prohibition of selling that which you don’t own
– Selling anothers debt and engaging in high risk investments
Prohibitions – Gharar (Uncertainty)
• Uncertainty as to fundamental terms in a contract
• Subject matter, price or time of delivery must be fixed in advance
• Conventional insurance prohibited
How could Islamic finance have prevented
the crisis
• No lending on interest
• No selling on of mortgages or debts such as discounting promissory notes and
cheques with postponed payments
• Financial derivatives are not permitted in Islamic finance
• Prohibits short selling - identified as a significant contributor to the global crisis
Can Islamic finance come out of the mess?
It is believed that Islamic finance could emerge as a strong contender provided it
overcomes the following challenges:
• Work towards eliminating the perception that Islamic finance is merely a
interest bearing debt in disguise
• Aim for commonality in the application of Shari’ah to all Islamic finance
products offered
– Currently many differences in the application of Shari’ah in different parts
of the world
• Standardize Islamic finance products such that they look and feel the same
wherever offered
Islamic Finance Infrastructure Institutions
(IFII’s)
General Council for
Islamic Banks and
Financial Institutions
Islamic Finance Infrastructure Institutions
(IFII’s)
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Must have ‘common thread’ to work
together, whilst having ‘diversity’ in
their mandates.
Some of the areas looked into by these
IFII’s are:
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–
–
–
–
–
–
–
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Regulations…
Corporate Governance…
Capital Adequacy…
Risk & Liquidity Management…
Islamic Capital Market…
Accounting & Auditing Standards…
Rating…
Guidelines & Recommendations…
Awareness Programs…
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Otherwise:
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Loss of talents, skills, resources, etc.
Overlapping goals and objectives
Duplications and Repetitions
Deviation from the ‘common goal’
Successes of Islamic finance
• Rapid growth of 15% - 20% annually
• US$ 4 Trillion worth market sector
• Crossed boundaries of Islamic world and spreading in non-Islamic countries
– UK, Germany, USA, France, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, etc.
• Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes – Benchmarks for Islamic investment
related categories have outperformed their non-Shari’ah compliant
counterparts by 3 to 4 % in key indexes
• Osservatore Romano, Vatican’s official newspaper – ‘The ethical principles on
which Islamic finance is based may bring banks closer to their clients and to the
true spirit which should mark every financial service’
Thank You
&
Jazaka Allah Khair
Mohamed Faraaz Shaul Hameed
MBA(USA) BBA,PGDIBM-UK,AMABE-UK,DIBF-SL,DHRM-UK,DIBM-UK,DIM-UK
Mr. Faraaz is a Professional Banker for more than 20 years
locally and internationally and embarked into Islamic
Banking in 2007, and to date, he has gained a wealth of
knowledge and experience, through his diverse positions
held in various organizations* in Banking Operations,
Management Consultancy, Business Management,
Strategic Planning & Budgeting, Islamic Banking & Finance,
Retail, Commercial and Investment Banking, Business
Development, Compliance, Treasury training and career
development etc.
* Organizations
Deputy CEO/Acting CEO
First Global Investments
(Holdings)
Sri Lanka
[email protected]
• Commercial Bank Ltd, Sri Lanka (Best bank for last 11yeras-in Sri Lanka)
• Al - Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia
• Seylan Bank, Sri lanka
• Thomas Cook Ltd, India
• Standard Chartered Bank , Sri Lanka
•Habib Bank Ltd- Pakistan
• Amana Bank , Sri Lanka
• First Global Investments Holdings Limited, Sri Lanka