GUST, SII ink agreement

By Valiya S. Sajjad

Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) singed an agreement with Securities and Investment Institute (SII) of the UK to jointly work for the establishment of a test center Monday at the university campus in Mishref.

SII's mission is to set standards of professional excellence and integrity for the securities and investment industry, providing qualifications and promoting the highest level of competence to its members, firms and others.

The signing event was attended by the Rt. Hon the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman David Lewis. According to the agreement SII will accredit GUST as a local training provider in Islamic Finance Qualification (IFQ), which is the first global benchmark examination covering Islamic Finance to be available to candidates via Computer Based Training (CBT).

The qualification is also unique in that it covers Islamic finance from both technical and Sharia'a angles.

Surpluses

Dr William J. Wadden, Dean of Continuing Education-GUST was keynote speaker along with Firas Al Oda, Deputy Managing Director of Educational Holding Company (EDU) and Issam Al Tawari, Vice Chairman, CEO, of Rasamel Structured Finance Co.

Firas Al Oda spoke on how the allocation of potential surpluses may constitute a threat to any policy maker.

He quoted many statistics by International Monetary Fund (IMF) on economies in the Gulf. The national income growth average in the Gulf, he said, is 19 percent in the last four years from both oil and non-oil activities.

He quoted many more positive findings and said the most important features of the recent macroeconomic developments globally are: 'the absence of a large decline in real interest rates, significant deterioration in the current account balances and a policy mix in fiscal and monetary policies, as a clear trend in formulating national budgets.'

The implications of such features may lead to a trend of spending the surpluses rather than investing them, he noted. 'This involves debt reduction, tax cuts and spending increases.

He said we must adopt a forward looking strategy to better deal with surpluses, given a risk-free perspective. Governments are keen to provide the stability taking into consideration macroeconomic and geopolitical trends and events.

Manpower

'Building up manpower is our core business that leads to long- and short-term gains as well as sustained development. This investment opportunity stands as a priority in a macroeconomic system.'
Issam Al Tawari spoke on Islamic Finance: The Growth and Future, Regionally and Globally.

He said the Islamic finance industry contributes to a more efficient world economy by introducing a financial intermediation system that allows global community to tap its resources effectively.

'It also allows the global market the capability to pass resources to Muslim communities more efficiently.'

On the other hand, he added, Islamic finance is important to Muslims because it is an important mobilizer of local and regional savings and an important provider of capital. Islamic finance varies between 15 to 40 percent of various markets in the world, he added.

He touched upon the development of Islamic capital market and Islamic banking industry.