Senior Islamic bankers and corporate borrowers will meet for discussions that will seek to boost deal flow in Islamic syndicated lending, trade finance and project finance in an upcoming corporate finance summit in Abu Dhabi.

International Summit on Islamic Corporate Finance (ICFS 2011) will take place on October 10 and 11 at Le Royal Meridien.

Delegates will be looking to understand and capitalize on the increasing demand for Islamic finance from the corporate business sector.

The event under the strategic partnership of Noor Islamic Bank, will create an ideal platform to bring all key components of the deal-making value chain together - the corporate banking leaders (both Islamic and conventional) and the corporate end users of these services.

“With market preferences increasingly shifting towards Shari’ah-compliant banking and finance, more and more businesses are looking to include Islamic finance as a key component of their funding mix,” said David McLean, managing director of ICFS 2011.

“Though Islamic retail banking, Takaful and Sukuk have traditionally been the main industry growth drivers, analysts are becoming more convinced that Islamic corporate finance, which includes syndicated lending, trade finance, and project finance, could be poised to be a powerful new growth driver for the global Islamic finance industry - and meet the pent up demand of corporate borrowers for expanding the role of Islamic finance in their funding mix,” he added.

“Islamic finance has been emerging as a viable corporate finance alternative, highlighted by several recent landmark transactions both regionally and globally. However, the Shari’ah compliant corporate finance market has not yet realized its full potential as its value proposition has not been fully communicated to its corporate client base,” said Hussain AlQemzi, chief executive officer, Noor Islamic Bank and Group chief executive officer, Noor Investment Group.

Moinuddin Malim, chief executive officer of Mashreq Al Islami, said: “Islamic finance is quickly become an integral part of the global finance industry and has taken its roots in almost all of the Muslim countries but has also been under discussion and penetration in selective Western and Far Eastern jurisdictions.”

“Islamic products and services are available for every segment of the industry so long as it is has acceptability under Shari’ah.  Retail, wholesale, investment, capital markets, asset management and treasury products and solutions are available across broad spectrum to meet the requirement of customers who prefers Shari’ah compliant alternative.”

“Over the last 10 years we have witnessed an increasing appetite for Islamic products & services.  Even post financial crises, the growth of Islamic finance outpaces that of conventional finance in our markets,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service