UniNews Islamic Finance Conference 2010

Islamic banking and finance has been around for centuries yet has not been widely discussed within Australia. On the 8 and 9 of June the second annual Islamic Finance Conference was held at the Rendevous Hotel in Melbourne.

Dr Ishaq Bhatti, the Director of Islamic Banking and Finance Program at at for La Trobe University, felt the conference was a huge success. This year conference was attended largely by industry experts, bankers, financiers, law firm, ASIC, APRA and employees of the board of taxation who will actively be involved in developing Islamic Finance laws in Australia.

“We discussed various topics over the two days including alternative ethical based Microfinance and its future in Australia to the opportunities for Islamic finance in an Australian market,” he said.

Dr Bhatti and his colleague Dr Hayat Khan, a lecturer from the School of Economics and Finance spoke along side prominent figures within the financial industry including, Senator Nick Sherry the Assistant Treasurer of Commonwealth of Australia and Professor Akhtar Kalam the Chairman of the Muslim Community Co-operative Australia (MCCA).

Islamic banking and finance is one of the fastest growing areas in the international financial environment, but the market for Islamic finance has enormous potential for growth despite it still being small compared to conventional finance.

La Trobe has paved the way for Islamic finance in Australia as we provide the very first Master of Islamic Banking and Finance course (MIFB) which was launched by Senator Sherry in July 2009 at the first and the largest ever Islamic Banking and Finance Symposium in Australia.

Acting Vice-Chancellor Tim Brown said La Trobe has taken on a leadership role in the way finance is taught in his opening speech at the conference.

“Conventional and Islamic finance are merging to demonstrate a bright future for peace and love among various multi-faith and multicultural communities. This is a reflection of our first group of MIFB students who are from various parts of the world, from North and Central America to Africa and Asia, all from different faiths learning about how and what Islamic Finance can offer to humanity, so they can take this knowledge back to their countries” he said.