On 24 November, Luxembourg for Finance, in partnership with QInvest, a leading global Islamic financing institution, hosted its first Islamic Finance Workshop in Luxembourg bringing together more than 110 local and international investment fund professionals, bankers, corporates, law firms and industry practitioners.
The workshop addressed topics ranging from Sukuk issuance, notably from a European corporate perspective, the emergence of Islamic high yield financing, the potential of FinTech for the industry, as well as the challenges facing the fast-growing Islamic asset management industry.
The workshop featured presentations by a number of senior figures at QInvest, namely, Hani Ibrahim, Head of Debt Capital Markets; Alexander Armstrong, Head of Financial Institutions & Structured Finance and Dr Ataf Ahmed, Head of Asset Management. They were joined by Luxembourg and international panelists to discuss salient trends and current challenges in the industry.
Following the workshop, Hani Ibrahim, Head of Debt
Capital Markets at QInvest, said:
“Luxembourg has long been seen as one of the leading
Islamic finance centres in Europe and the high level of
interest from financial services participants at this
workshop shows the tremendous opportunity for institutions
such as QInvest to work in and with Luxembourg. We saw
good interest when we helped launch Luxembourg’s debut
Euro-denominated Sukuk last year and expect this trend to
continue as the financial services industry in the country
looks towards Islamic finance as a means to diversify as
well as attract capital and products.”
Tom Theobald, Deputy CEO of LFF, commented:
“As the second largest fund centre in the world and home
to the world’s leading stock exchange for international
securities listings, Luxembourg is today a key centre for
the development of Islamic finance in Europe. The high
number of participants is testimony of the interest of
Luxembourg practitioners in deepening their knowledge of
Islamic finance products.”
Luxembourg is today the largest domicile for Islamic funds
outside the Muslim world. More than 100 Islamic investment
funds have been created in the Luxembourg financial
centre.
In addition, the Luxembourg legal framework and investment
vehicle toolbox is suited to a broad range of Shariah
compliant structures, while the Luxembourg Stock Exchange
is a recognized listing centre for international Sukuk
issues.