Full steam ahead for Singapore's first dedicated Islamic finance conference

Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has said Singapore will not be able to compete as an international finance centre if it does not offer Islamic banking facilities. With this in mind Finance IQ, a division of IQPC conferences are proud to launch Islamic Finance Singapore 2006.

"We've chosen the key theme of this year's event to be 'Establishing Singapore as an Islamic financial hub" said Finance IQ's Strategic Director Andrew Thake. This is in light of recent initiatives, not just undertaken by the Singaporean government, but by the Singaporean finance community as a whole to leverage upon their existing expertise to capitalise on the growing Islamic finance market. The MAS has legalized murabaha transactions, the SGX is looking at how it can attract more investment from the Islamic community, and private banks are looking at how they can best service the increasing Islamic wealth flowing into Singapore".

The event features a mix of leading Singaporean finance experts such as Ng Nam Sin, Executive Director of the MAS, Nicholas Tan, Head of Wealth Management for OCBC and Linus Koh, Head of Products and Services for the SGX, as well as leading experts from outside the region including Iqbal Khan, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Amanah, Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, Head of Islamic Banking at CIMB and Dr Mohd Daud Bakar, leading Shari'ah Scholar.

"We've had a tremendous response to the event so far and we're looking forward to an event which will not just educate the Singapore financial community about the potential of Islamic banking, but will also act as a platform for non-Singaporeans to see the tremendous work that is being done to leverage one of the leading financial centres to service this growing market" commented Andrew Thake

For more information about the event please contact Effa Emelia at +65 6722 9417/ effa.emelia@iqpc.com.sg or vist our website at www.iqpc.com.sg/AS-3211