Islamic Finance: The Opportunities for Ireland

Finance professionals are invited to attend a new one-day conference to introduce Islamic Finance to the Irish market and highlight the opportunities it represents to Ireland's financial community. Islamic Finance: The Opportunities for Ireland, organised by DCU Business School and INCEIF, the Global University of Islamic Finance, Malaysia, will take place in the Centre for Executive Programmes, DCU Business School on Tuesday, December 4th, 2012.

The Middle East and Asia have been identified by the Government's Strategy for the International Financial Services Industry in Ireland 2011-2016 as key players impacting on the global financial system. In addition, the Central bank has authorised Shari'a-compliant funds and the tax code has been changed to accommodate these funds. This Islamic Finance course offered by DCU, will help the Irish financial sector become a credible business partner for investors from the Middle East.

The conference will show:

• Irish corporates and the Irish State how to issue Shari'a-compliant bonds;
• Banks how to provide banking services in a Shari'a-compliant manner;
• Fund managers how to service Islamic funds;
• Insurers and reinsurers how to provide their services to Islamic clients; and
• Central Bankers how to regulate Islamic banking and insurance.

The programme will be led by Professor Volker Nienhaus, Professor of Economics at both Trier and Bochum. He was Visiting Scholar at the University of Malaya under the Securities Commission Malaysia Islamic Capital Market Programme (2010/11) and Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Islamic Studies of Qatar Foundation, Doha (2011). He has also served as consultant to the Islamic Financial Services Board and is an Adjunct Professor at INCEIF, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.