About CEIF
The Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance has been established at IBA with the objective of providing a platform for discovery, enhancement and dissemination of knowledge in the field of Islamic Finance. It aims to be a world class Centre which, through education and research, carries on IBA's legacy of thought leadership in the Islamic Finance industry.
Globally, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Pakistan, U.A.E, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait & Bahrain are prominent where the contribution of their total assets of Islamic Banking is 82% to the Global Islamic Banking market. The Islamic Finance market has shown a steady growth of 13%-15% in the past 5 years and is expected to cross USD $3 Trillion by 2020. This exponential growth of the industry has led to the vacuum of trained human resource at all levels. A wider array of products which are distinctively Shari'ah Compliant are also the need of the hour which would lead the industry to clearly differentiate itself in the market. CEIF has been established to meet this need for greater research and training.
CEIF, based at the IBA's City Campus, offers Executive Learning Programs, Forums for discussions between various stakeholders. In this regard, CEIF has signed an MOU with Malaysian based University, INCEIF, as its Academic Partner. Furthermore, CEIF has entered into collaborations with Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) and International Shari'ah Research Academy (ISRA) to cooperate in enhancing the objective of Research, Training and Development in the field of Islamic Finance. In line with its aim to provide demand driven training, IBA initiated a strategic partnership with Meezan Bank Ltd. to establish the Centre.
The Board of Management of the Centre includes CEOs of major market players and regulators with Dr. Ishrat Husain as the Chairman. This strong linkage with the industry will enable the Centre to achieve its key objectives, which include:
- To provide trained human resource to the industry to take it to the next level of maturity
- To conduct quality research and document case studies for enhancing and disseminating knowledge.
- To be a platform for debate, discussion and discourse on current issues and best practices around the globe. It is actively negotiating with various multilateral institutions to assure quality and best practices in this field.
- To provide a network of global outreach. In this regards, an International Lecture Series has been launched where various leaders of the industry from around the globe will be invited regularly for training sessions to bridge the knowledge gap.
- To advance theory of Islamic Economics and Finance and its role in the society
- To establish a data centre with best local and international resources.