International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) is making progress across a wide range of Sharia products issued, said experts at its 27th board meeting hosted by Kuwait Finance House - Bahrain (KFH-Bahrain) in Manama.

The meeting was attended by senior representatives of Bank Indonesia, CBB, Central Bank of Sudan, Islamic Development Bank, Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam, Labuan Financial Services Authority-Malaysia, KFH-Bahrain, ABC Islamic Bank, Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank and National Bank of Kuwait, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

"Progress on Interbank Unrestricted Wakalah standards, Islamic Currency Hedging product standards and Collateralised (Rahn) Product Standard are all moving ahead," remarked IIFM chairman and Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) executive director of banking supervision Khalid Hamad.

The board also agreed on the initiation of several new standards, including Ijarah sukuk standardisation as well as consultation on credit support arrangement concerning Islamic hedging.

Hamad said the board appreciated IIFM industry briefing seminars and workshops which are creating better understanding and awareness on key components of Islamic capital and money markets in various jurisdictions across the globe.

IIFM recently held an industry seminar titled Islamic Capital Markets, Liquidity Management and Risk Mitigation Instruments, which included sessions on various areas such as sukuk, Inter-Bank Unrestricted Wakalah, Collateralisation and Tri-Party arrangements for Islamic Securities, Islamic Hedging and Islamic Real Estate Investment Trusts.

IIFM chief executive Ijlal Ahmed Alvi thanked the board and CBB for their continuous support.

He also thanked KFH-Bahrain for hosting this meeting at their headquarters.

He stressed the importance of IIFM market unification efforts particularly in the area of liquidity management and risk mitigation and hoped that these standards will soon be adopted and implemented across the global market.

He noted that Islamic finance was becoming one of the key sectors in global finance, and hence "it is essential to unify certain aspects and practices of the Islamic finance industry."-TradeArabia News Service