Revisiting Shari’a financial instruments. A round-table discussion with Richard Thomas (Gatehouse Bank), Humphrey Percy (BLME), Mohammed Amin (PwC) and Siti Faridah Abdul Jabbar (National University of Malaysia). To be held on Monday, November 3, 2008, at Watermen’s Hall, 18 St-Mary-at-Hill, London, EC3R 8EF,

from 12:30-2:15pm.

Globally, Islamic finance continues to grow at 15-20% a year – but even before the current financial turmoil, it was facing serious growing pains. And it certainly cannot expect to be exempt from the upheavals throughout the financial services sector.

Can Islamic finance survive a global contraction of credit with its principles intact? Will it suffer more or less from the strains that global finance finds itself under? Was it, after all, just a bull-market phenomenon? Or is there a real, underlying demand that will support the sector and help it devise new products for new markets?

These are big issues, and we are delighted to be able to revisit the Islamic financial space that we looked at last April. This time, our key speakers include senior figures from two major Shari’a compliant players in the London market, as well as two leading Islamic authorities:

- Richard Thomas is chairman of Gatehouse Bank, which received its UK banking license last April – becoming the fifth Islamic bank authorised to operate in the UK. Before joining Gatehouse, Richard was head of Islamic financial services at Arab Banking Corporation in London.

- Humphrey Percy is CEO of Bank of London and the Middle East, a Shari’a compliant wholesale bank that he joined in 2006. Previously he was with BZW and West LB, where he managed start-up businesses, before setting up his own venture in 2002.

- Mohammed Amin leads PwC’s Islamic finance practice in the UK. He is also a member of the HM Treasury’s Islamic Finance Experts Group, and writes his own Islamic finance blog. He is a member of the Muslim Power 100 – a list of the hundred most influential Muslims in the UK.

- Siti Faridah Abdul Jabbar is a Cambridge trained lawyer, teaches at the faculty of economies and business at the National University of Malaysia. She has published extensively on Islamic financial law and regulation.

If you or a colleague (we are always keen to bring new people on board) would like to join us, would you please let us know as soon as possible by emailing nicole@csfi.org.uk or by ringing 020 7493 0173. As usual, refreshments will be provided.