Kuwait Finance House (KFH) announced its sponsorship of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions AAOIFI – World Bank 13th Annual Conference under the them “Role of Standardization in the Future of Islamic Finance", held on the 23rd and 24th of October, 2018 at the Diplomat Hotel in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Participants at the conference comprised of Shari’ah scholars and senior representatives from central banks, regulatory authorities, financial institutions, accounting and auditing firms, legal firms, universities, higher learning institutions and media.

On behalf of Kuwait Finance House Group, Mr. Abdulhakeem Al Khayyat, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of KFH-Bahrain said: “Our sponsorship of the annual conference is part of the Bank’s strategy for digital banking and the application of digital transformation within the Islamic banking industry in the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

“In light of this ‘Jazeel’, the first digital platform of its kind allowing users to open bank accounts and conduct banking transactions anytime, anywhere was launched. We look forward to continually sponsoring this prestigious event and ensuring that we achieve our objectives of enhancing digital banking services”, he added.

Mr. Subah Abdullatif Al Zayani, Deputy Head of Retail Banking at KFH-Bahrain, participated in a panel discussion entitled ‘The Rise of Digital Banks - Opportunities and Challenges’ during which the impact of digital banking on the Islamic financial industry was discussed in terms of regulatory procedures, business models, human resources and operational efficiency. The panel discussion also covered the extent to which the international financial industry is ready to face digital transformation, in addition to how legitimate requirements stand in the way of the application of digital banking. The link between standards and digital transformations and the opportunities offered by Islamic finance for digital banking and important lessons learned in the field of digital banking were also discussed.

The conference covered several vital topics related to the future of the Islamic financial industry; ‘Learning from Wisdom’, ‘Collaboration between Islamic Finance Infrastructure Institutions: Current Status and the Way Forward’, ‘Islamic Finance Cryptocurrencies- Governing and Regulating Cryptocurrencies’, ’The Rise of Digital Banking- Opportunities and Challenges’, ‘Islamic Finance Landscape in the Next 30 Years, and ‘Impact of VAT on the Islamic Finance Industry’.

Established in 1991 and based in Bahrain, AAOIFI is the leading international not-for-profit organization primarily responsible for the development and issuance of standards for the global Islamic finance industry. The body has issued a total of 100 standards in the areas of Shari’ah, accounting, auditing, ethics and governance for international Islamic finance. It is supported by a number of institutional members, including central banks and regulatory authorities, financial institutions, accounting and auditing firms, and legal firms, from over 45 countries. Its standards are currently followed by all the leading Islamic financial institutions across the world and have introduced a progressive degree of harmonization of international Islamic finance practices.