Online Desk: The 4th Islami Finance Conference of Bangladeshi AAOIFI Fellows Forum (BAF), was held at BIBM Auditorium in Mirpur in Dhaka on Saturday (February 24).

BAF is an organisation of fellows of ‘The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI)’, a Bahrain-based Islamic banking and finance standard-setting organization.

Chair of BIBM and former Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank (BB) Ahmed Jamal was present as the chief guest in the opening session of the day-long conference.

Director General of BIBM Dr. Md. Syed Kamaluddin Zafree, the founder and chairman of the board of trustees of Bangladesh Islamic University, spoke as the guest of honour.

The program was presided over by Professor Akhtaruzzaman, Islami Bank Bangladesh Plc Managing Director and Chief Executive Mohammad Monirul Moula presented a speech titled ‘Entering the 5th decade of Islamic Banking in Bangladesh: Progress and Challenges’ and a discussion titled ‘Necessity of Risk Sharing Philosophy of Islamic Finance’ was presented by Dr Obiyathulla Ismath Bacha, a professor Insafe University of Malaysia.

Around 500 domestic and international Islamic banking and finance experts, regulators, Shariah scholars, teachers, students, and professionals participated in this day-long conference, including 443 fellows of AAOIFI in Bangladesh.

In addition to this, three books’ covers were unveiled on Islamic banking and financing. Apart from this, the web site of BAF and IBCF was inaugurated.

In the day-long conference, a total of 8 papers were presented in panel discussions by domestic and international Islamic banking and finance experts and professionals in various academic sessions.

Former Governor of Bangladesh Bank and Emeritus Fellow of BIBM Fazle Kabir was present as the chief guest in the closing ceremony of the conference.

Chairman of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Plc Abdus Samad, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank Nurun Nahar, and former Deputy Governor AKM Sajedur Rahman Khan spoke as guests of honour. Humaira Azam, managing director and chief executive of Trust Bank Plc, gave a speech as a special guest.

BAF president and associate professor of BIBM Md. Mohabbat Hossain, convener of the conference and Executive Vice President of Eastern Bank AKM Mizanur Rahman also spoke in the function.