More than 1,200 international delegates from over 50 countries gathered in Bahrain today (December 7) at the opening of the 16th annual World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC 2009).

The conference will discuss new strategies for the global Islamic finance industry in light of the new economic realities that are emerging in a changing business landscape, said a statement.

The inaugural plenary session featured a series of prominent keynote addresses from Rasheed M Al Maraj, the Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain; Heng Swee Keat, Governor of the Monetary Authority of Singapore; Aset O Issekeshev, the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan; and Khalid M Al-Aboodi, the CEO & general manager of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, the private sector arm of the IDB Group.

The keynote plenary session provided the perspectives of industry leaders on growth strategies in the aftermath of the global economic crisis.

Diversifying the revenue base of Islamic financial institutions while understanding risks to ongoing industry success in the context of the turmoil in the international financial markets were some of the issues discussed during this session. UK perspectives on the development, growth and the future outlook for Islamic finance were the focus of another roundtable session.

A topical and thought-provoking session looked at ways of defining the next stage of evolution so as to take Islamic Finance from 1.0 to 2.0.

The need for global connectivity in Islamic finance, capacity building, open market architectures and standardizations between Europe, GCC and South East Asia were the topics discussed during this session.

Ozgur Tanrikulu, partner (principal) at McKinsey & Company, led the session that launched the 2009/10 edition of the WIBC Competitiveness Report, a research report that provided original insights into how Islamic financial institutions are re-shaping their businesses in response to changing market conditions.

The 16th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference, supported by the Central bank of Bahrain, broke all previous attendance records with more than 70 sponsors and over 1,200 delegates, according to the statement. – TradeArabia News Service