Milestones

ASSAIF - possibly the oldest Islamic finance consultancy in Europe - works worldwide with governments, central banks, public and private institutions, local and regional authorities, professional practices and investors. It operates on a projects basis and establishes core teams of consultants and local experts to work effectively on the projects that it manages. It also offers professional consultancy and training in legal and Shariah, fiscal and administrative, financial engineering and marketing areas in various jurisdictions

The long experience in Islamic, conventional and ethical finance enables ASSAIF to provide informed opinion and analysis with an intellectually inclusive approach and to structure products and instruments that join the financial techniques to the implementation of the values advocated by Islamic political economy. ASSAIF only focuses on projects that are spiritually, socially, intellectually and economically beneficial to society at large and has been instrumental in bringing Islamic finance to new markets and extending its range of activities to new areas such as microfinance, Islamic social design, accountancy, and currencies and monetary issues

With its activities ASSAIF also aims to enhance the strategic role of the Mediterranean Sea - an area located at a crossroads of Islam and Christianity, North and South, West and East - and facilitate the economic and financial relations between Italy and the Arab world. Besides, it values and disseminates the culture of diversity and encourages the development of new forms of governance that take into account the financial inclusion of the Muslim communities in full compliance with the nationals regulations and their own cultural requirements

ASSAIF has originated and managed a number of seminal action-research projects whose deliverables are all recognized as benchmarks in their respective fields. Hereby, are listed some of the most notable ones:

• Union of Arab Banks - ABI - SIMEST, 2011 - Mediterranean Partnership Fund Initiative - member of the Working Group
• World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, 2011 - Chair of the Advisory Council 201
• World Bank, Washington 2011 - Capacity building on Takaful and Microtakaful
• Ak Bars Bank, Kazan 2010 - 'Islamic Finance Business Plan'
• Conservatives, London 2009 - ‘Keeping London at the forefront of Islamic finance’
• Al-Sunbula for Investments, Jeddah 2008 - 'Shariah-compliant Family Office Business Plan'
• Syrian Ministry of Environment, Damascus 2006 - '1st Survey of Syrian Landfills'
• Fondazione Housing Sociale, Milan 2006 - 'Accesso alla casa per gli immigrati - Il Mutuo islamico'
• European Commission, Brussels 2004-2007 - 'NuoviStilidiVita' [New Life Styles]
• Municipality of Palermo, Palermo 1997 - 'Project Pilot Genoardo'
• Italian National Trust, Bagheria 1996-2002 - 'Villa Valguarnera. General Programme of Restoration-July 2002'