WIEF London to attract more Muslim money to UK
The 9th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), held in London from October 29 to 31 for the first time outside an Islamic country, is a premiere for the UK’s financial market that seeks more Muslim capital to flow in.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron at the launch said that London has plans to become a center of Islamic finance in the western world, adding that the UK hopes to offer a £200 million Islam-friendly bond as early as 2014 as the first non-Muslim country to do so.
Furthermore, a ground-breaking new Islamic index on the London Stock Exchange is to be launched in the near future. The announcements reflect the UK government’s determination to tap into the fast-growing global market in Islamic investments, which have risen by 150 per cent since 2006. They are expected to be worth £1.3 trillion next year.
“Already, London is the biggest center for Islamic finance outside the Islamic world. And today our ambition is to go further still,” Cameron said, adding that “Because I don’t just want London to be a great capital of Islamic finance in the Western world. I want London to stand alongside Dubai as one of the great capitals of Islamic finance anywhere in the world.”
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak officially opened the WIEF on October 29 at the Excel International Convention Center in London. Malaysia’s Islamic finance industry is the largest in the world and wants to “emulate” Islamic financing and banking by both Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
However, the WIEF was also a platform to protest for a group calling themselves “British Victims of Investing in Malaysia”. The protest revolved around an allegedly fraudulent investment deal worth £2.5 million that goes back to 2008. The British investors put money into a company called Doxport Technologies Sdn Bhd of which they now say it solicited their investments based on false invoices and fraudulent documents and has misappropriated funds.
Doxport Technologies Sdn Bhd then chairman and director was influential business figure Dato Azim Zabidi, an ex-treasurer of the current Malaysian prime minister’s ruling UMNO political party.
British political leaders were taking up the issue on behalf of the British investors, but in spite of countless reassurances that Malaysian justice can be relied upon, there has still been no definitive action from the Malaysian government. Investors protesting included bus drivers, small business owners and city workers who all invested.
The 9th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), held in London from October 29 to 31 for the first time outside an Islamic country, is a premiere for the UK's financial market that seeks more Muslim capital to flow in. UK Prime Minister David Cameron at the launch said that London has plans to become a center of Islamic finance in the western world, adding that the UK hopes to offer a £200 million Islam-friendly bond as early as 2014 as the first non-Muslim country to do so. Furthermore, a ground-breaking new Islamic index on the London Stock Exchange is to...
The 9th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), held in London from October 29 to 31 for the first time outside an Islamic country, is a premiere for the UK’s financial market that seeks more Muslim capital to flow in.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron at the launch said that London has plans to become a center of Islamic finance in the western world, adding that the UK hopes to offer a £200 million Islam-friendly bond as early as 2014 as the first non-Muslim country to do so.
Furthermore, a ground-breaking new Islamic index on the London Stock Exchange is to be launched in the near future. The announcements reflect the UK government’s determination to tap into the fast-growing global market in Islamic investments, which have risen by 150 per cent since 2006. They are expected to be worth £1.3 trillion next year.
“Already, London is the biggest center for Islamic finance outside the Islamic world. And today our ambition is to go further still,” Cameron said, adding that “Because I don’t just want London to be a great capital of Islamic finance in the Western world. I want London to stand alongside Dubai as one of the great capitals of Islamic finance anywhere in the world.”
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak officially opened the WIEF on October 29 at the Excel International Convention Center in London. Malaysia’s Islamic finance industry is the largest in the world and wants to “emulate” Islamic financing and banking by both Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
However, the WIEF was also a platform to protest for a group calling themselves “British Victims of Investing in Malaysia”. The protest revolved around an allegedly fraudulent investment deal worth £2.5 million that goes back to 2008. The British investors put money into a company called Doxport Technologies Sdn Bhd of which they now say it solicited their investments based on false invoices and fraudulent documents and has misappropriated funds.
Doxport Technologies Sdn Bhd then chairman and director was influential business figure Dato Azim Zabidi, an ex-treasurer of the current Malaysian prime minister’s ruling UMNO political party.
British political leaders were taking up the issue on behalf of the British investors, but in spite of countless reassurances that Malaysian justice can be relied upon, there has still been no definitive action from the Malaysian government. Investors protesting included bus drivers, small business owners and city workers who all invested.
Thanks for sharing this infor. quite useful.