EIGHTH HARVARD UNIVERSITY FORUM ON ISLAMIC FINANCE " Innovation and Authenticity "

The Eighth Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance is scheduled to be held at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, MA on April 19 and 20, 2008. The theme of the conference will explore "Innovation and Authenticity" in the field of Islamic Finance.

The Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance provides a venue for the critical and objective examination of the purposes, theory, practice, structure, and institutions of the rapidly developing field of Islamic finance.

Building on previous forums, the Eighth Harvard University Forum will focus on a variety of challenges facing this industry; namely the quest for authenticity as innovative ideas progress the field of Islamic finance. The industry.s response to challenges in these areas will no doubt go far in determining the shape of its future expansions, and the degree to which it becomes part of the global financial mainstream.

The Eighth Forum will critically examine the integration of Islamic finance in the mainstream from the point of view of industry innovation.

The Forum will focus on the two issues that have become the central issues of debate within the Islamic finance industry today: the latest innovations and developments at the leading edge of the field, and the long-term impact, scope and authenticity of these ideas in the context of an Islamic community and way of life.

In addition to other topics, the Forum will discuss the theoretical and practical role of debt and product innovation in debt-based financial instruments. The Forum will also investigate economic and legal views of equity as well as focus on specific attempts to introduce equity-based financial instruments. Economic comparisons of debt and equity, including concern for wealth distribution, will be a focal point of discussion.

Additionally, the Forum will consider the impact of global economic forces on Islamic finance and how Islamic financial institutions can and should respond to globalization, liberalization, and international regulation and its impact on innovation and authenticity in the Islamic finance industry.

The role of shari.a supervision in the evolution of the Islamic finance industry will be considered, with an eye towards expanding the scope of current shari.a investment guidelines to include non-financial factors, such as corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, environmental impact, and labor practices.

Lastly, with an eye towards the real world implications of these issues, we ask since having achieved a certain degree of commercial success; can Islamic Finance now push the boundaries of traditional financial services?

The two-day conference will open with a Keynote Address by Professor Robert Merton, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences and Professor at Harvard Business School, focusing on Innovation and its implications for Islamic Finance. This will be followed by a Forum Address by Dr. M. Umer Chapra, recipient of the IDB Award for Islamic Economics, focusing on the economics of authenticity. Additionally, more then 25 research papers will be presented in various sections from leading academics, legal and shari.a experts, and practitioners. A summary of this event will be posted on our website soon after the conclusion of the Eighth Forum.