Tunisia seeks to establish legal framework to regulate Islamic economy

"The Tunisian Government will seek to establish a legal framework to regulate the Islamic economy in Tunisia," said, Monday, Interim Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, adding that the country plans to become "a regional centre of Islamic finance."

 Speaking at the opening of the first Forum on "Islamic Economy," held in Gammarth, Mr. Hamadi Jebali also said "Tunisia needs 35 to 45 billion dollars in financing in the next five years to carry out its development projects. 

Islamic banks, at the forefront of which the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), can provide part of these funds, he indicated.

IDB President Ahmed Mohamed Ali said the Bank wishes to see the Tunisian private sector play a more significant role in implementation of the bank's projects in Tunisia and Africa.

Since its inception in 1975, The IDB has allocated 3.13 billion dollars for the realization of development projects in Tunisia in the sectors of energy, water distribution, sanitation, education, health, exports insurance...

The French Development Agency (AFD) had recently suggested to the IDB drawing up a micro-finance program in Tunisia," he said.


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IFSB takes a look at legal angles in Islamic finance

Fourth IFSB seminar on legal issues in the Islamic financial services industry to be held in Malaysia.

The specificities of Shari`ah-compliant financial services offered by banking and financial institutions need to be supported by a strong legal framework, according to the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB).

It says that legal firms rendering services to institutions Islamic financial services (IIFS) need to understand the specificities of these institutions and the parameters in which they operate as well as establish a legal framework within these parameters.

The IFSB is orgranising it’s fourth seminar on Legal Issues in the Islamic Financial Services Industry on 28-29 September 2009.

The IFSB said the seminar aims to achieve the following objectives:

• To collect and record data on the various legal environments in which IIFS operate, and draw from the experiences of different jurisdictions in order to better understand and analyse the effectiveness of appropriate legal and regulatory framework for Islamic finance;
• To review the legal requirements in specific areas which are developing but critical in driving the industry forward. In particular, to focus on areas such as Shari`ah Board's functions, liquidity management and dispute resolutions; and
• To discuss in depth the interface between the Shari`ah and modern legal frameworks, as such interaction is fundamental to every single Shari`ah-compliant finance contract used by IIFS. This requires that the knowledge and understanding of Shari`ah scholars and legal practitioners of these issues are both hands-on and up-to-date at all times.

The Seminar will attempt to contribute to the Shari`ah and legal aspects of the Islamic financial services industry by discussing the following topics:

• Recent experiences in introducing legal and regulatory framework for Islamic financial services;
• Shari`ah and legal issues in Islamic structured products;
• Insolvency and asset recovery framework: gaps and challenges;
• Interlink/interface between civil law systems and Shari`ah rules and principles and effective dispute resolution mechanism; and
• Challenges in managing legal risks in Islamic financial services: case studies.

The keynote address of the seminar will be delivered by Sir William Blair, High Court Judge of the Queen's Bench Division while the opening address will be by Professor Rifaat Ahmed Abdel Karim, Secretary-General of the IFSB. Joining them are 17 chairpersons and speakers from among the leading industry experts. The confirmed personalities are:

1. Y.Bhg. Tun Abdul Hamid Haji Mohamad, Member, National Shariah Advisory Council, Bank Negara Malaysia and former Chief Justice of the Federal Court, Malaysia

2. Gopala Krishnan Sundaram, Assistant-Governor, Bank Negara Malaysia

3. Thomas C. Baxter, General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

4. Dato’ Dr Nik Ramlah Nik Mahmood, Managing Director, Securities Commission, Malaysia

5. Dr. Mohamed Akram Laldin, Executive Director, International Shariah Research Academy

6. Stefan Gannon, General Counsel, Hong Kong Monetary Authority

7. Ashraf Mohammed, Principal Counsel, Asian Development Bank

8. Roberta Calarese, Legislative Counsel and Director in Policy and Legal Services Division, Dubai Financial Services Authority, UAE

9. Mansoor Shakil, Director - Asset Management Group, Al Rayan Investment L.L.C., Qatar

10. Dr. Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi, Professor of Shariah, Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, Qatar

11. Muddassir Siddiqui, Partner, Head Islamic Finance – Middle East, Denton Wilde Sapte, UAE

12. Hanim Hamzah, Resident Partner, Roosdiono & Partners, Indonesia

13. Michael J.T. McMillen, Partner, Fullbright & Jaworski LLP, New York, USA

14. Yeo Wico, Partner, Allen & Gledhill, Singapore

15. Hamid Yunis, Partner, Taylor Wessing, UK

16. Dr. Charles Proctor, Partner, Bird & Bird, UK

17. Me Nada Abdelsater-Abusamra, Partner, Raphael & Associes Law Firm, Lebanon

Link: http://www.cpifinancial.net/v2/News.aspx?v=1&aid=3081&sec=Islamic%20Finance

British Christian Legal Experts Warn against Islamic Finance

The British Government will be capitulating to Islamic religious law if they change the current financial regulations to accommodate sharia finance and issue Islamic or 'sukuk' bonds, warn Christian Concern for our Nation and the Christian Legal Centre.

The Government has publicised its support for Islamic or shariah compliant finance and has stated its intention to facilitate the growth of the sector so that London remains Europe’s gateway to international Islamic finance. The Government has already passed a number of enactments and laid several sets of regulations in order to create a ‘level playing field’ in tax and regulatory law for Islamic products vis-a-vis conventional ones.

The Treasury and the Financial Services Authority are currently seeking to establish how best to regulate an issue by the British Government of Islamic bonds. They say that these bonds share the legal framework of collective investment schemes, yet mirror debt securities or asset-backed securities in economic substance.

The authorities believe that accommodating sharia finance by issuing such bonds will benefit society, will increase liquidity for the Treasury and will enable Muslims to be financially enfranchised.

Christian Concern for our Nation and the Christian Legal Centre, in a written submission to the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority, give what they describe as a ‘prophetic warning’ over what could radically change the fundamental basis of British society through its financial regulation.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, barrister and director of the two organisations, said the accommodation of sharia compliant finance by the British Government "represents a capitulation to Islamic religious law".

"The shariah scholars who mastermind this kind of finance desire to see the Islamisation of the UK and its submission to sharia law," she said.

"The authority given to sharia scholars by financial institutions and the plans announced by the authorities to appoint such clerics to advise them shows just how far adrift we have sailed as a nation from tolerance, via multiculturalism to accommodation and soon to subjugation.”

Mrs Williams reminded the treasury that in 2003 the European Court of Human Rights found that sharia law was "incompatible with the fundamental principles of democracy as set forth in the Convention. It considered that "principles such as pluralism in the political sphere or the constant evolution of public freedoms have no place in it".

In October last year, the House of Lords also found sharia klaw to be incompatible with human rights, stating that it was "arbitrary and discriminatory".

Link:
http://au.christiantoday.com/article/british-christian-legal-experts-warn-against-islamic-finance/5648.htm