Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) has announced its plans to hold the AAOIFI-World Bank Annual Conference, 12^th edition, under the title: “Towards Quantitative Growth and Standardization of Islamic Finance” on Sunday and Monday 5-6 November 2017 in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in partnership with the World Bank, and under auspices of the Central Bank of Bahrain.

The conference will bring together a distinguished host of speakers including governors of central banks, and regulatory and supervisory authority, as well as senior management officials, thought leaders, scholars, and experts from across the global Islamic finance industry.

The 12^th edition of this high-profile global event will feature a prominent guest of honor and keynote speaker, H.E. Dr. Ahmed Abdulkarim Alkholifey, Governor, Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (the central bank of Saudi Arabia).

The conference theme will overarch the proceedings of the seven sessions, which widely range from open dialogue sessions featuring the industry’s leaders and pioneers, including senior officials from regulatory and supervisory authorities, scholars and experts, and CEOs of Islamic financial institutions, to paper-presentation and discussion sessions where the floor will be open for the audience to participate and provide their comments and views. The main topics include pros and cons of standardization of Islamic finance practices and regulations at an international level, and evaluation of reality of adoption and application of technical standards by the Islamic finance industry, and the way forward. Another session will attempt to figure out leading bankers’ views on standardization of the industry and the impact on its qualitative growth. Furthermore, the conference will assign a session to discuss the establishment of a unified Shari’ah authority for the Islamic finance industry, globally, as well as an evaluation of reality and the proposed road map, through two empirical studies involving methodological research and a survey aiming to probe the views of key Shari’ah scholars and Fuqaha (jurists) across the globe. In addition, another session will portray four experiences of countries that have recently admitted and recognized Islamic finance in their jurisdictions, shedding light on the efforts exerted by every country to develop its own regulatory and supervisory framework, and the main challenges for the Islamic finance industry in these newcomer markets. The conference will conclude by a session on fiduciary rating and Shari’ah compliance.

H.E. Shaikh Ebrahim Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Chairman, AAOIFI’s Board of Trustees, stated: “Despite the high degree of euphoria and excitement accompanying all these manifestations of quantitative growth and development being made by the industry, such as the rapidly increasing growth of asset base, scope of financing, and diversity of products as well as geographic spread across Islamic countries and other countries, the current stage would require an enhanced emphasis on a further quantitative development of the industry, in terms of a greater level of compliance of its products with Shari’ah and its supreme objectives and noble cause, as well as improved levels of governance and transparency. This would also require efforts to catapult the industry to higher levels of professionalism and institutionalization at the international level, through the development of more professional standards to govern and regulate all its activities and areas of interest and attain higher levels of global adoption and recognition. This will come under the spotlight of this year’s conference”.

Registration in the conference is open now: On AAOIFI’s website: aaoifi.com or through the following link: https://goo.gl/xqRhu9