The Waqf Fund, a Bahrain-based special initiative to support Islamic finance training, education and research, is to launch a continuous development programme.

At its 12th board of trustees meeting at the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) premises, the Waqf Fund members elected Arcapita Bank executive director Essa Zainal as deputy chairman.

The meeting discussed major decisions about ongoing and new initiatives of the fund and evaluated the positive feedback from the participants of the scholar professional development programme, conducted in April.

It was decided that efforts are needed to structure a continuous development programme on a regular basis on a series of topics.

"The programme fulfils an important knowledge gap in the industry and has been appreciated by scholars as well as bankers," said CBB banking supervision executive director Khalid Hamad.

The ongoing initiatives to fund worthy applied research projects for the benefit of the Islamic finance industry were also highlighted.

"The Waqf Fund has an impressive research panel to supervise and help researchers comprising leading Sharia scholars, accomplished industry practitioners and academics," said Hamad.

The fund is organising their fourth roundtable discussion on November 29 on the sidelines of the AAOIFI-World Bank conference.

The topic is 'Roles and Responsibilities of Sharia Supervisory Boards and Internal Sharia reviewers of Islamic Financial Institutions'.

"These thought leadership roundtables have become a hallmark of the Waqf Fund over the past four years," said Hamad.

"They provide an ideal platform for the industry - including bankers, Sharia scholars and regulators - to discuss a specific issue in detail and come up with recommendations.

"In the past, the CBB has often taken up these recommendations for follow-up and action," said Hamad.

The board agreed that the fund played a vital role in strengthening the entire Islamic finance industry in Bahrain.-TradeArabia News Service