MTI conducts seminar on Islamic Finance

MTI Corporate Finance, the Finance arm of MTI Consulting, a strategy and management consultancy, recently conducted a very interactive seminar on Strategizing for Islamic Finance mainstreaming integration through global learnings with MTI's speaker Belgium' Xavier Jopart and Corporate Finance panellists. The audience was presented an in-depth presentation from Xavier Jopart driving his regional and global learnings and experience on Islamic Finance.

The MTI Team accommodated Xavier Jopart for three days and organized many key meetings with industry practitioners in the country. MTI's speaker Xavier Jopart spent the first 10 years of his career with McKinsey in international consultancy across Europe and Middle East. He is an acclaimed Thought Leader in Islamic Finance, having played an active role in the World Islamic Banking Conference (at which both MTI and McKinsey were present). The MTI's Corporate Finance panel drew some of the best industry figures that included Mano Tittawella, Pushpaka Ranasinghe, Manilka Fernando, Deshal Pandithage, Dinesh Fernando and Ishrat Rauff.

The objective of the seminar was to introduce the basic concepts of Islamic Finance and its recent developments; discuss whether Islamic Finance is a real alternative to conventional finance; review the main challenges for the industry in general; and discusses the Islamic banking opportunity and market in Sri Lanka. The audience consisted of many key executives in the corporate and senior managements across the banking and financial industry in Sri Lanka.

Xavier Jopart concluded that the Islamic Finance industry in Sri Lanka is still in its infancy but offers great prospects for the future. He said that Islamic Finance holds a large market potential in non-Muslim countries, serving minorities and possibly extending the concept to ethical finance along with various numerous challenges at regulatory, political, institutional and individual levels that need to be overcome to push growth. He also said that the industry is enjoying a vibrant environment where things change every day with new players emerging every day. The seminar concluded with a very interactive Q and A session which opened up various discussions.