2009 London Sukuk Summit

View previous Sukuk Summit events: 2007 2008

Dato� Sri Zarinah Anwar, Chairman of the Securities Commission of Malaysia, will give a special keynote address in the inaugural session of the second day (the 3rd of July 2009) of the London Sukuk and Islamic Capital Markets Summit which is taking place on the 2nd and 3rd of July 2009 at the Radission Hotel in London. This third consecutive summit, in the series, organised by ICG Events is endorsed by HM Treasury, UKTI, The London Stock Exchange, International Financial Services London (IFSL) and The Arab British Chamber of Commerce.

Dato� Sri Zarinah, who was legal adviser to the first Sukuk originated out of Malaysia in 1993 when she was at Shell Malaysia, has presided over the regulatory stewardship of the Malaysian Islamic capital markets for the last decade or so. The Malaysian Islamic capital markets, partly to her credit, is the most developed in the world and constitutes over half of all the securities issued in the local market. As such, she brings a unique insight combining market experience with a regulator�s touch to the world of capital markets.

Dato� Sri Zarinah�s address will be followed by an exclusive joint presentation by the UK Treasury and Financial Services Authority (FSA) on the latest measures the UK Treasury is proposing to facilitate corporate Sukuk issuance in the sterling market. The Economics & Business Secretary to the UK Treasury, Ian Pearson recently confirmed that a sovereign Sukuk may form a part of the Treasury�s financing for the future.

"I am keen in principle to look to issue sovereign Sukuk but conditions have to be right to do that. Now it is not the appropriate time, but we keep these matters under review. As a government we want to insure that corporate Sukuk can be issued in the UK and the UK is seen as a world centre for issuing Sukuk," Pearson stressed to the British media recently.

Other speakers that have confirmed their participation include Tim Harvey, Head of EMEA, at ETF Securities Limited who last year launched the first Islamic exchange-traded commodity fund (ETC). Commodity-based ETFs and ETCs � especially oil, coal, gold and agri-based commodities have been performing well over the last year or so and prospects for this asset class remain exciting going forward. However, the Islamic capital markets sector has been slow to uptake opportunities in ETF and ETCs, with only four Shariah-compliant ETFs and one ETC launched so far. This will be a good opportunity and platform to learn more about the structures and potential for value-added albeit new products such as Islamic ETFs and ETCs.

Similarly, Dr Akram Laldin, Managing Director of ISRA, the Shariah Research & Development Trust set up by Bank Negara Malaysia, will participate in the Summit�s pioneering Shariah Panel Discussion; and top Luxembourg lawyer Marc Theisen will participate in a panel discussion on the theme of bridging the gap and opportunities between the EU and the Middle East in Islamic finance. Luxembourg is a major legal and registration domicile for Islamic funds � some 42 Shariah-compliant funds using especially the SICAV and UCITs structures which were pioneered by Luxembourg are registered there. There are also 14 Sukuk listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

The increased market appetite for Sukuk was demonstrated by Indonesia�s debut 5-year international benchmark sovereign Sukuk Al-Ijarah launched recently. Due to heavy demand the volume was increased from US$500m to US$650m. In fact, the order book surpassed US$3bn.

More importantly, the tight pricing suggests that this is a good time to issue Sukuk, albeit dependent on whom the issuer is. The fixed rate pricing started with 9.25 per cent and ended up with 9.25 per cent and then 8.8 per cent. In fact, today it is trading at 8 per cent. This is remarkable given that conventional Government of Indonesia bonds have recently been priced at 11.6 per cent.

With these encouraging developments, the London Sukuk & ICM Summit 2009, the third successive summit in the series, along the theme �Innovating for the Future: The Next Generation of Post Credit Crunch Sukuk Structures/Preparing for the Next Wave of ICM Offerings� assumes an even greater importance.

The Summit is preceded by a Sukuk Masterclass titled �Understanding Sukuk - Issues, Structuring, Innovation� on 1 July 2009 and conducted by a team of top experts in various fields relating to Sukuk and Islamic Capital Markets.

The timing of the summit could not be more opportune and follows on from the highly successful inaugural London Sukuk Summit along the theme �Strategies for Today; Demystifying Islamic Capital Market Products� held in June 2007; the equally successful follow-up London Sukuk Summit in June 2008 along the theme �Gearing up for UK Sukuk Originations�, and the inaugural and well-attended Asia Sukuk Summit 2009 along the theme �Towards a New Silk Route for Islamic Finance� held on 19th-20th February 2009 in Hong Kong.

The Islamic capital markets is indeed poised to play an important role in the next stage of development of the global Islamic finance sector per se which has better withstood the vagaries of the credit crunch and the global financial market.

The challenge is to consolidate these Islamic Capital Markets and Sukuk structures and to come up with even more imaginative and economically productive structures and products. The market developments whether they be in Dubai, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bahrain, Jeddah, Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur are underpinned by progress in enabling regulation, legislation, innovation, Shariah governance, diversification and market education.

The London Sukuk Summit 2009 is specifically aimed at harnessing these developments to keep you informed about the Sukuk market developments and innovation; to provide a platform for dialogue with your peers; and to give you a voice in contributing to the future direction of the Islamic debt and capital markets. Can you afford to not to be part of this informative process!