Islamic finance summit to be held in Singapore

Singapore - Singapore will host the sixth annual summit of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) in May next year, the first time the annual event will be held in Asia, organizers said on Thursday. The Monetary Authority of Singapore said the summit will bring to the city-state the single largest concentration of top financial regulators plus senior bankers from IFSB countries.

This year's gathering will be held in Amman, Jordan.

The IFSB, inaugurated in 2002, is the international standard-setting organization promoting soundness of the Islamic financial industry.

It currently has 163 members comprised of 41 banking, securities and insurance regulatory and supervisory authorities, six international organizations and 116 market players and professional firms.

The industry is estimated to be valued at 750 billion US dollars and growing by more than 20 per cent annually.

"Our hosting of the summit underscores our role as an international financial centre with a strong value proposition for Islamic financial services," The Business Times quoted an MAS spokesman as saying.

Previous summits were held in London, Doha, Beirut and Dubai. Last year's meeting in Dubai attracted 500 people.