Islamic banking a rising force

Islamic Finance is one of the fastest growing segments of the global banking industry. According to some estimates the current size of this global market is between 200-300 billion US dollars and growing at 15 percent annually.

Leading finance professionals from the global Islamic finance industry say that Islamic banks and financial institutions will be a part of the mainstream banking and financial services industry, while Sharia-compliant products will be universally available and offered by non-Islamic institutions in the next decade.

On April 19th a conference of the Arab Bankers Association of North American (ABANA) will be focusing on the global growth of Islamic Finance. H.E. Rasheed Al-Maraj, Governor of the Bahrain Monetary Agency, William Rutledge of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Sheikh Yusuf DeLorenzo will be featured speakers at this event, entitled Islamic Finance: Players, Products & Innovations.

This half-day conference will address current and emerging trends and products in Islamic Finance for retail, real estate, private and public-equity funds, hedge funds and sukuks. Other featured speakers at the ABANA conference will represent Arcapita Inc., Bemo Securitization SAL, Dow Jones Islamic Index Group, Ernst & Young Bahrain, Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs International, Guidance Financial, King & Spalding, Permal, Unicorn Investment Bank, Vinson & Elkins and Wafra Investment Advisory Group.

The conference will be held at the University Club, One West 54th Street, New York City. From 8 am to 2:15 pm on April 19th, 2005

For more information about this event  please visit www.arabbankers.org

The Arab Bankers Association of North America is an international professional organization founded in 1983. ABANA promotes financial and banking relations and cooperation between the Arab World and the US, and hosts educational programs to foster the development and exchange of international banking, financial and monetary information. Now celebrating its 22nd anniversary, ABANA represents over 400 individuals and 63 institutional members.