Islamic Finance: Creating an Enabling Environment: A Short Report

Although Islamic finance was conceived as a system that includes broader socioeconomic goals outside of profit, it has largely operated within an economic and regulatory environment that has created impediments in the realization of those goals. The intent of the seminar was to thus explore the question: what can be done to create an enabling environment for Islamic finance to not only be commercially successful, but also deliver on its broader objectives? The panel featured speakers from Fajr Capital Limited, Islamic Development Bank, and Harvard Law School, allowing a unique blend of academic and industry perspectives. The ensuing discussion was further enriched by the participation of the audience in the Question and Answer session. The session began with an introduction by Nazim Ali, Executive Director of IFP and Acting Executive Director of ILSP, and Frank Vogel, Founding Director of ILSP, who introduced the panelists and pointed both to the success of Islamic finance in the past few decades and to new questions it is facing in the fields of justice, social welfare, and economic development.