• An overview of Islamic finance and its future in North America
  and abroad
• How do North American banking and finance leaders perceive
  Islamic finance?
• Furthering the potential of global reach
• What does Islamic finance mean to North American
  companies as a source of funding and investment?

• Enticing leading financial institutions to enter the Islamic
  financial space
• Economic development
• Measuring growth, innovation and development of Islamic

• Building North American participation in Shariah compliant
  capital market activities
• Shaping the architecture of the industry through transparency
  and strong corporate governance
• The need for strong regulatory framework tailored to the
  needs of Islamic finance

• Shariah governance in unique in the financial sector. How far
  have we come in developing Shariah standards? What
  more is required? How has Shariah supervision affected
  modern Islamic finance?
• Examining differences in Shariah compliance developments in
  the following areas:
  -Retail banking
  -Sukuks
  -Real estate funds
  -Private equity funds
• Creating opportunities in new markets and shaping the
  architecture of North American Islamic finance

Sponsored by:

• Global challenges and opportunities: a view on the Western
  market for Islamic banking products and services
• An overview on structuring and issuing Shariah compliant
  products to meet consumer demand, including home
  financing, auto financing, savings
• Challenges of expanding the portfolio of products while still
  being competitive with conventional banks
  

• UM Investment Launch - UM Investment is a real estate fund investing in properties in the Canadian market
• UM Financial Joins - Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic

  Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) - First North American Financial Institution to join this prestigious body

• Establishing a fair and reasonable framework for Islamic
  financial products and organizations
• Islamic banks are currently held to the same standards as
  conventional banks in North America. How do banks and
  regulators work together to understand and overcome
  challenges that are specific to the principles of Islamic
  finance?
• Examining the approach: the importance of staying abreast of
  this market and allowing for flexibility

Sponsored by:

• Innovative investment approaches to provide Shariah
  compliant investment structures, including private equity
  investing, hedge funds, venture capital opportunities and real
  estate
• Assessing the role and construction of Islamic indexes
• The global reach: benefits and opportunities in sourcing
  capital from the Middle East to access deals and transactions
  in North America

• In light of current global realities, why would an American
  business owner look to partner with an Islamic investor?
• What are the benefits of Shariah compliant investment
  principles?
• How is Shariah compliant equity structured in light of Islamic
  risk-return principles and the prohibition on liquidation
  preference?

• Can Islamic strategies outperform conventional and
  Islamic benchmarks?
• Quantitative methods of stock selection and understanding
  their risk-adjusted performance over complete market cycles.
• Having Islamic strategies across equity styles allows asset
  allocation and style rotation. What are the benefits to an
  Islamic investor?
• What are the advantages of combining Islamic strategies
  across equity styles?

• According to some experts, Shariah compliant mutual funds
  are one of the fastest growing sectors of Islamic finance.
• What are the defining characteristics and structure?
• Ensuring portfolio purification on both fiscal and moral levels
• The strategy – offering first class standards of service,
  transparency and accountability to best competitive
  mutual funds and attract the attention of high net worth
  individuals and institutions

• Sukuks as an equitable alternative to conventional bonds.
  Specifically, how do they differ from Western bonds?
• Structuring Sukuk transactions, including investment vehicles,
  credit enhancement and eligible assets
• Sukuks as a liquidity management tool and opening
  investment opportunities to North American investors

Sponsored by:

• Examining current trends, market conditions and future
  prospects of growth of Islamic finance in North America
• Positioning your company as a major player in North America
  and gaining access to key deals
• Building investor confidence

•  The media’s perspective: identifying gaps in information and
  opportunities in global coverage of Islamic finance
• Information sharing; effective ways to communicate with the
  financial community and your consumer
• Branding Islamic products

•  How does the public rate Islamic banks?
• Managing assets in a socially responsible way
• Establishing a broad appeal and overcoming positioning challenges
  

•     The North American market is virtually untapped. How can we
  capitalize on the demand?
• Harmonization of practice between regions; the importance of
  learning from market leaders in the Middle East, Asia and
  Europe
• Creating consumer demand outside of the Muslim
  community

    Understanding the core principles of Islamic investment and finance

• What is the role of Islamic law?
• Understanding the role and importance of the Shariah
  Comparing the differences between Islamic and conventional
  finance
• What is permitted, and prohibited under Islamic law?
• The process of structuring a Shariah compliant product

Understanding asset classes

• The contracts of exchange: Murabaha
• How a home sale might: Ijara and Salam
• Arabian bottling: Istisna’a
• How a construction project might proceed

• What are the broad Islamic rules?
• How do these mesh with modern business combinations and
  special purpose concepts?
• How does these accommodate the formation of SPV’s,
  syndication financings and other commercial activities?
• How can a partnership concept be turned into a financing?
• How free are partners to restrict their rights in the idealized
  Islamic Musharaka?

Applications and considerations for wealth management and
private banking

• Understanding the core principles of Islamic investment
• Screening issues
• Considerations for the investment manager
• Providing clients with Shariah compliant advisory services
• Funds management challenges
• Stock market and Islamic hedge funds

• Deal origination
• Where and how is the market developing?
• What is the evolution of instrument selection?

Regulatory and capital issues

• Why certain preferences have developed in the GCC
  compared to Southeast Asia
  -    The convergence of practices under AAOIFI and IFSB
  guidance
  -    How do these interact in the global system?
• An example of an important regulatory challenges of Islamic
  financial institutions
  -    Profit sharing deposits – equity, debt or quasi equity?

The Shariah board: process and practicalities

• Shariah process flow
• Who plays which role?
• What can go wrong!

        
Rehan Huda is based in Ottawa, Canada and is the Founder and President of Salam Financial, a firm specializing in Shariah compliant financial products and services for the Canadian marketplace. He is also a Director of Amana Canada Holdings, which is in the process of applying for a license for Canadian Islamic bank. Mr. Huda has been a guest speaker on Islamic Economics and Finance in a variety of forums in Canada, UK and the Middle East.

Prior to his work in Islamic finance, Mr. Huda held various positions within the Canadian federal government including Senior Economist for the Department of Finance and Senior Analyst for the Natural Resources and Industry Departments. He was a recipient of the government's Public Service Award of Excellence for his financial and economic analysis related to the awarding of operating licenses to wireless telecommunication service providers. He has also been a management consultant to emerging Canadian telecommunications and energy companies.

Mr. Huda has a B.A. in Economics and Psychology and a Masters in Economics from the University of Manitoba in Western Canada.

The workshop will aim to provide the participants with a comprehensive
understanding of the Sukuk product and its potential as an Islamic capital
market product. An evaluation will be made of the Shariah approach to
financial governance including a look at the rules and issues that guide
Islamic investments and how they have driven the development of modern
financial instruments such as Sukuk.

The workshop will cover advanced structures and live case studies for
those contemplating involvement or investing in sovereign, corporate,
municipality or other type of Sukuk issues.

The matters covered include the following:

• Evolution of Sukuk: understanding of the product within the
  framework of the Islamic law (Shariah)
• Comparisons and contrasts of Sukuk with other conventional
  capital market products (bonds, shares, derivatives etc.)
• Current market overview and trends
• Possibility of structuring Sukuk under different Shariah
  contracts – e.g. fixed coupon Sukuk, variable coupon Sukuk
• Understanding of Shariah contracts as a basis for Sukuk
  tradability
• Counterparties in Sukuk and their roles
• Dealing with credit risk in sukuk: a look at covenants, credit
  enhancements and other collateral issues
• Sukuk rating: the need for the rating exercise and how it is
  done
• The potential of Sukuk in balance sheet restructuring
  corporates, banks etc.
• Sukuk in the context of financing choices for corporates
• The future of Sukuk in the overall Islamic investment
  landscape

• Case study one - How it works: understanding the
  mechanism of the product by analyzing a sovereign Sukuk
• Case study two - Addressing legal issues in Sukuk through
  analysis of a corporate Sukuk
• Case study three - Project finance Sukuk: a look at cashflows
  and practicalities of how Sukuk may be used to finance
  projects
• Case study four - Sukuk backed by offshore receivables:
  financing of export activities through Sukuk
• Case study five - Sukuk as a substitute to conventional
  municipality and utility bonds