Dubai-based Ethica Institute, a leading Islamic finance training institute, recently took part in an international Islamic finance summit in Toronto.

The G20 Islamic Finance Summit recently brought together Islamic finance experts from around the world to discuss the changing role of the industry amid the continuing global financial crisis.

The summit was at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Business and was opened by Derek Lee, MP, federal member of the Canadian parliament.

Among the topics discussed at the event, education figured prominently, with experts stressing the importance of promoting standardized Islamic finance education.

“We look forward to a day that academic and training institutes adhere to a recognized Shariah standard,” said Atif Khan, MD of Ethica Institute of Islamic Finance.

“One in which educators work with Islamic finance scholars to follow AAOIFI, the most widely-accepted Shariah standard in the industry,” he added.

Presently, academic institutes obtain external accreditation from conventional institutes, unlike Islamic financial institutions that retain the services of Islamic finance scholars to approve products, said Khan.

Amid growing concern about the sustainability of interest-based finance, there is burgeoning interest among conventional institutions, both financial and academic, in exploring Islamic finance as an option.

Stephen Ranzini, CEO of US-based University Bank, cited his own experience in marketing Islamic finance products to conventional customers.

“The results were so compelling that…90 per cent of the customers are non-Muslim,” he said. – TradeArabia News Service