Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) has recently held two public hearings on the exposure draft of the Shari’ah Standard no. 57 (Gold and its Trading Controls) in Oman and Sudan.

The Oman session of the public hearing was held on Monday, 24^th of October 2016 in Muscat, and was hosted by the College of Banking and Financial Studies of the Central Bank of Oman.

Whereas the Sudan session was held in Khartoum on Tuesday, 24 Muharram 1438 AH corresponding to 25^th of October 2016 in partnership with the Central Bank of Sudan which played host at its headquarters. The sessions witnessed in-depth discussions and were attended by a group of scholars, members of Shari’ah boards, economists, experts and leaders in the Islamic banks and financial institutions, Shari’ah auditors, lawyers, and a number of experts from regulatory and supervisory bodies and other professionals. The participants discussed in detail the rulings of the standard and presented their valuable suggestions, which will be submitted to the Shari’ah Board by the General Secretariat to consider and incorporate into the exposure draft.

This standard is the first comprehensive Shari’ah standard on gold and financial products based on gold, and it has been developed in collaboration with World Gold Council (WGC). The standard is expected to have a positive impact as it would help provide answers to a lot of questions and Fiqh newly emerging issues regarding the use of gold in financial and investment transactions by Islamic banks and financial institutions, and other related parties. The standard aims at enhancing the transparency and harmonization of using gold and its products across markets.

Among the main objectives of AAOIFI is to develop internationally-recognized Shari’ah standards for the global Islamic financial industry. The development of the standard takes up to 13 technical steps, commencing with the commissioning of the consultant to draft the preliminary study and ending with the issuance of the standard. One of the most important steps is the public hearings which are meant to collect and probe the opinions of scholars and experts in the area of Islamic finance.

In this respect, Dr. Hamed Hassan Merah, Secretary General of AAOIFI, extended his appreciation to the College of Banking and Financial Studies of the Central Bank of Oman and the Central Bank of Sudan for their substantial support for these two sessions and added “Public hearing sessions which are held in different parts of the world stand testimony to the huge support accorded to AAOIFI from all stakeholders in the industry including central banks, supervisory and regulatory bodies, Islamic financial institutions, Shari’ah scholars, experts and professionals”.