This first conference on Islamic Finance held in Scotland, jointly organized by the ‘Islamic Finance Council UK’ and the ‘Scottish Financial Enterprise’, was attended by members of the Scottish government and key members of the Scottish financial community.

The event brought together in a series of pre-arranged meetings the decision makers of some of the most important Gulf investors and family offices and a group of diversified Western investment funds and banks. Topical presentations and round-tables complemented the event.

Most of the Shariah-compliant investment certificates has progressed only legally but relatively little has been done to create products with dynamic assignment mechanisms on Shariah-compliant underlying.

The event showed that the current turmoil in global financial markets may have undermined investor confidence and caused an excess of caution in the short run but for the careful investor there are interesting opportunities in the global real estate market.

The immigrant entrepreneurship plays a key role for a real and effective integration of Muslim communities. On the one hand, it boosts the economy of the countries of origin through the remittances but on the other hand it brings cultural and economic wealth to those host countries that allow it to grow and prosper.

The announcement of structural, administrative and fiscal measures by the French government to facilitate the development of Islamic financial activities in France provided the background to this forum, which saw the participation of the French institutions at the highest level and companies interested in promoting investment opportunities in France.

This annual meeting reflected not only the international growth in Islamic finance but also the ability of this conference to address the real needs of the industry. This year it was attended by 1000 delegates from 45 countries and a session was devoted to the emerging markets: China, Japan, Singapore and France, with particular attention to Italy.

The forum was dedicated to identify challenges and explore opportunities for the industry in the country that in 2004 issued the first sovereign Sukuk in Europe and hosts a very large Muslim community. The investments from the Gulf are now facilitated by the first applications of Sharia-compliant financial structures.

The forum focused on the strategically important Gulf area. It analyzed the possibility of financial integration between the Italian and the GCC banking industries, and highlighted the opportunities for collaboration and investment by the Arab world in Italy. An entire afternoon session was devoted to Islamic finance.