ISRA-IFC Scholar Professional Development Program

Kuala Lumpur, July 12-14, 2010 – ISRA-IFC Scholar Professional Development Program – held at Crowne Plaza Hotel Kuala Lumpur: ISRA jointly with the Islamic Finance Council UK (IFC) conducted the Scholar Professional Development Programme.

This program is an exclusively tailored conventional markets training programme designed to assist Shari`ah scholars and those associated with the Shari’ah assurance process to gain a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of conventional financial markets, covering both key fundamental mechanics and contemporary issues.

The Malaysian event was a two day event conducted at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Kuala Lumpur for about 25 Shari`ah scholars. The training was handled by Kevin Rothwell, an external specialist employed by Securities and Investment Institute of UK to provide the specialized training.

On the first day of the event in Malaysia, topics discussed included the overview of the conventional financial system, i.e. the development of the monetary and banking system, and the function of different players in the financial system including commercial banks, investment banks, mutual fund, ETF and hedge funds. Also discussed was the money market, interbank market, treasury operations and the capital market. During the second day, an overview of more complex products like derivatives, structured products and hedge fund strategies were discussed. Also an overview of the events that brought down the conventional financial system, such as the sub-prime and securitization problem was discussed.