The Arab Chamber of Commerce & Industry

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اللغة العربية

Islamic Finance Workshop

This intense up to 3-Day workshops invite you to critically examine the status of Islamic Finance. It will explore developments and achievements to date, its participants and scope, and its areas for improvement and growth, integrating Islamic finance into the mainstream regulation, standardization and transparency.

The core aim of these workshops is to build on your existing knowledge and sharpen your working knowledge of Islamic Finance.

The Arab Chamber of Commerce & Industry unveils Hong Kong’s HK ISLAMIC INDEX™ at its Islamic Finance Workshop.

With a view to lending support to the Hong Kong SAR and PRC Government’s efforts to develop Hong Kong into an Islamic Financial Hub, The Arab Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ARABCCI) successfully organized and hosted Hong Kong’s 1st Islamic Finance Workshop, with the support of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC).

According to Lord Edwin E. Hitti President of The Arab Chamber of Commerce & Industry “This first Workshop only covered the basics of Islamic Finance. It was really a first initiative. We were very encouraged by the feedback we received from both the official and commercial sectors. In fact we are being encouraged to host a full fledged International Islamic Banking & Finance Conference in Hong Kong. This will again be a first for Hong Kong.

We are about to announce hosting major Islamic Finance events in Hong Kong shortly”.

Among the distinguished guests at the workshop were representatives from Bank of East Asia, Quam Securities, GCSL Group, Richland Worldwide, CFC Seymour, Deutsche Bank & Dow Jones Newswires, etc… At the close of the event Dr. A . S. Johan, Vice President of The Arab Chamber of

Commerce & Industry announced the unveiling of a Hong Kong's first appropriately called “HK ISLAMIC INDEX™". The index is made up of selected Hong Kong listed companies, deemed to be in compliance with Shariah Principles

by the Hong Kong Shariah Advisory Council, which, will allow Islamic investors from the Middle East and elsewhere to confidently invest in the shares and securities of index component companies.

The HK ISLAMIC INDEX™ was conceived by the Arab Chamber and is being further developed for worldwide dissemination in technical collaboration with QUAM Securities a corporate member of The Arab Chamber and a member of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Listed QUAM Group. A plot of

the performance of the HK ISLAMIC INDEX™ against the HANG SENG INDEX was unveiled at the end of the

Workshop and is reproduced here for information. ARABCCI is planning on the official launch of the HK ISLAMIC INDEX™ in Hong Kong and other financial centers. According to Dr. A.S. Johan, a key strategy adviser to ARABCCI “We had hardly finished plotting the index and have already been approached by several big names in the global Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) business for

discussions on possible licensing rights for our HK ISLAMIC INDEX™. I guess when you can appeal to Muslims from a wealthy market like the ones from Arab countries; you want to be ahead of the competition”.

October 25,2007