The Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF), the region’s premier training and development provider, announced its collaboration with CFA Society Bahrain to launch a first-of-its-kind Islamic finance qualification for Islamic investment and treasury professionals.
The Islamic Finance Industry has seen considerable growth over the past two decades. According to multiple reports including Thomson Reuters, the Islamic finance industry is currently about $3 Trillion and poised to double by 2023. Currently, one of the gaps in the Islamic finance training space is the absence of a professional qualification for Islamic capital markets. With this objective in view, CFA Society Bahrain, is partnering with BIBF, the oldest Islamic finance professional qualification provider in the world, to fill this gap globally with the launch of an Islamic Financial Qualification that meets the criteria of credentialing by the CFA Institute.
This qualification is specifically targeted at individuals who are either already employed by Islamic banks or are looking to move into the industry. Another major target is asset managers who deal with or are looking to offer Shariah compliant investment management products / services.
The qualification takes an average of 6 to 8 months of self-study. BIBF will develop a self-study course book as well as give students access to e-Learning content.
On this occasion, BIBF Director Dr. Ahmed Al Shaikh, stated ‘The Islamic finance industry is projected to grow considerably over the next few years, resulting in an increased demand for qualified human capital in Islamic finance to facilitate this growth. One gap however, is the lack of accredited, globally-recognised Islamic finance qualification that helps investments and treasury professionals advance their career. This qualification aims to bring the best of both the Islamic finance and investment analysis training to fill the identified gap.’
On his part, President CFA Society Bahrain, Dr. Ali Moulani, said, ‘We’re delighted to partner with the BIBF to launch this qualification which is long overdue. It’s only right that a world-class Islamic qualification is originated in Bahrain, as it is considered the global centre of Islamic finance. This programme is yet another initiative to increase value to our members as well as serve our institutional partners and the wider investment community.’
The BIBF has always been at the forefront of training and development in the Islamic finance industry, having established its first professional qualification in Islamic finance in 1997 to foster the growth of Islamic banking community on a local, regional, and international level, with a global footprint in more than 64 countries worldwide.
