AAOIFI is an international autonomous organization established in 1991 responsible for development and issuance of accounting, auditing, ethics, governance, and Shariah standards for the international Islamic finance industry. Its 200 institutional members include central banks, regulatory authorities, financial institutions, accounting and auditing firms from over 40 countries.

AAOIFI has issued over 88 standards followed by leading Islamic financial institutions across the world including Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America; and adopted by the IDB. Supporting the adoption and technical application of the standards, AAOIFI has introduced Certified Islamic Professional Accountant (CIPA) and Certified Shariah Adviser and Auditor (CSAA) professional qualification programs. A contract certification program was introduced to certify that financial contracts between Islamic financial institutions and their clients comply with AAOIFI standards and Shariah principles.

Apart from its effort in promoting clarity and transparency in financial reporting and also harmonization of international Islamic finance practices, AAOIFI has also been involved in developing the soundness and stability of the Islamic financial system in a number of jurisdictions together with multilateral organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank.

IIFM is the Islamic Financial Services Industry’s standard setting organization focused on the Islamic Capital & Money Market (ICMM) segment of the industry. Its primary focus lies in the standardization of Islamic financial products, documentation and related processes at the global level. IIFM also organizes specialized industry seminars, workshops and consultative meetings for the development of the ICMM.

IIFM was founded as a neutral and non-profit organization with the collective efforts of the Central Bank of Bahrain, Islamic Development Bank, Autoriti Monetari (i.e. Monetary Authority) Brunei Darussalam, Bank Indonesia, Central Bank of Sudan and Bank Negara Malaysia (delegated to Labuan Financial Services Authority).

Besides the founding members, IIFM is supported by other jurisdictional members such as State Bank of Pakistan, Dubai International Financial Centre as well as a number of regional and international financial institutions and other market participants.

CIMB Islamic is CIMB Group’s global Islamic banking and finance franchise, anchored by CIMB Islamic Bank, a licensed bank under Malaysia’s Islamic Banking Act 1983.

CIMB Islamic provides innovative and comprehensive Shariah compliant financial solutions in investment banking, consumer banking, asset management, Takaful, private banking and wealth management. CIMB Islamic products and operations are managed in strict compliance with Shariah principles under the guidance of the CIMB Islamic Shariah Committee, comprising some of the world's leading Islamic scholars.

CIMB Islamic is recognized as a pioneer in Islamic financial markets, having advised on the world’s first Shariah compliant exchangeable Sukuk and the largest sovereign Sukuk issue to date.

CIMB Group’s Islamic banking business is supported by the group’s network of over 40,000 staff in 17 countries comprising an experienced senior management team and an experienced global team of Islamic banking and financial services professionals in all core components of the Islamic banking and financial services market. CIMB Group also has the most extensive retail branch network in ASEAN, with more than 1,000 branches as at the 30^th June 2013, serving approximately 13 million customers regionally.

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) is a multilateral financial institution. It is the private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB). It was established by the IDB Board of Governors in its 24th annual meeting held in Rajab 1420H (November 1999) in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The authorized capital stock of the Corporation is US$2 billion while the capital available for subscription is US$1 billion. Its shareholders are the IDB, 52 Islamic member countries, and five public financial institutions from member countries.

The mandate of ICD is to play a complementary role to the IDB’s activities and national financing institutions in member countries through the provision of financing and financial services to private sector projects in accordance with principles of the Shariah. ICD also provides consultancy services to governments and private sector institutions in order to encourage the establishment, expansion and modernization of private sector enterprises, the development of capital markets, the adoption of best management practices and enhancement of its role in the market economy.

The ICD focuses on financing developmental projects which contribute to the creation of employment opportunities and the encouragement of exports. To achieve these objectives, ICD creates and develops relations of cooperation and partnership to arrange co-financing and syndicated financing services.

Bank Muamalat is the oldest Islamic Bank in Indonesia. Founded in 1991, it started operations in May 1992.

Bank Muamalat has been expanding its service with more than 450 offices across Indonesia. To improve customer accessibility, it now has 1,000 ATM machines giving it the largest ATM network of any Islamic bank in Indonesia.

In 2009, Bank Muamalat entered the regional market with the launch of an international office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It remains the only full branch operated by an Indonesian bank in Malaysia and the first foreign Islamic bank operating a branch under an international Islamic banking license.

In the last four years, Bank Muamalat has been undertaking a business transformation through the development of its products to match market needs and through the improvement of service levels. Bank Muamalat continues to launch innovative products: including Shar-e Gold which was recognized by Museum Rekor Indonesia as the First Islamic Debit Card with Chip Technology in Indonesia. The card can be used for no-cost transactions in 170 countries worldwide.

INCEIF, The Global University of Islamic Finance, was set up by Bank Negara Malaysia (the central bank of Malaysia) to offer postgraduates studies in Islamic finance. INCEIF is one of many initiatives undertaken by Malaysia to develop and nurture talent and experts for the global Islamic finance industry. Apart from its academic programs, which comprise Chartered Islamic Finance Professional, Masters in Islamic Finance and PhD in Islamic Finance; INCEIF also offers customised executive training programs and industry-focused applied research. The chairman and chancellor of INCEIF is the governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz. To date, its students and graduates come from different faiths and background from over 80 countries.

Maybank's involvement in Indonesia started in January 1995 with the establishment of Bank Maybank Indocorp (BMI), the first Malaysian joint venture bank in Indonesia. On the 23^rd September 2010, BMI was granted an approval by the central bank, Bank Indonesia to convert into a Shariah bank and renamed PT Bank Maybank Syariah Indonesia (MSI). MSI now operates as a fully fledged licensed Shariah bank.

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Central London, with presence in the Middle East, DDCAP is majority owned and controlled by IPGL, the most significant shareholder in ICAP. DDCAP positions itself as an intermediary in the Islamic financial services Industry, providing structuring support, trade execution and value-added services to its global clients.

DDCAP holds a unique market position as facilitator across a diverse range of Shariah compliant products, asset classes and instruments in both the primary and secondary markets.

DDCAP is a member of the International Islamic Financial Market. Its wholly owned subsidiaries include DD&Co and DDGI.

Emirates NBD Group

Emirates NBD is a leading banking group in the Middle East with assets of AED308.3 billion ($84 billion) (as of the 31^st December 2012). The group has a leading retail banking franchise in the UAE, with over 163 branches and over 760 ATMs. It is a major player in the UAE corporate banking arena with strong Islamic banking, global markets & treasury, investment banking, private banking, asset management and brokerage operations. The group has operations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, the UK, Jersey (Channel Islands) and representative offices in India, China and Iran.

Emirates NBD Capital

Emirates NBD Capital (EmCap) is the investment banking subsidiary of the Emirates NBD Group, licensed to operate in the Dubai International Financial Center. EmCap comprises an experienced team of professionals combining an international perspective with in-depth regional knowledge spanning DCM (including Shariah compliant structuring), syndicated/club loans, financial advisory, ECM and project finance.

FWU Group is an international financial services group. Its core activities include bancassurance, asset management and individual pension plans. The group is also recognized for its global leadership and expertise in Shariah compliant investments and insurance (Takaful). FWU Group specializes in white label Family Takaful investment linked plans and offers the Takaful operator a customized innovative product family, which includes savings, education, marriage and pension plans.

Today, FWU Group is recognized as the largest global producer of bancaTakaful in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Pakistan and Malaysia.

In November 2012 FWU Group pioneered the EU Sukuk market with the first issuance by a German corporate and the largest of its kind in Europe. The EUR55 million (US$71.94 million) Sukuk Ijarah is another innovation by FWU Group, with the first ever underlying assets being a proprietary computer software system. The intellectual property rights are developed in-house by FWU Group and used by its bank distribution partners in connection with their combined Takaful operations.

In recognition of its global expertise in Takaful, FWU Group has won 12 prestigious awards including several from Islamic Finance news.

IdealRatings was incorporated in 2006 in San Francisco with a mission to help Shariah compliant and ethical investors identify instruments across different asset classes in more than 160 markets. IdealRatings is serving clients in over 20 countries with a range of capital market solutions including:

• Equities � A web-based platform covering over 40,000 stocks, where financial institutions can screen based on different Shariah guidelines along with unique purification calculation engine for individual stocks;
• REITs � Global coverage of all listed REITs that could be screened in accordance with different standard Shariah/ethical guidelines;
• Indexes � A partnership with Russell Indexes and Thomson Reuters in developing a series of Islamic indexes along with providing custom-built indexes;
• Sukuk � A pioneering Sukuk screening service that enables institutions to define their own customized Sukuk selection Shariah parameters; and
• Data-Feed � A comprehensive solution for brokerage houses to offer Shariah flag as well as purification values to retail users.

The Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA) is a non-profit, non-governmental international arbitral institution that was established in 1978 under the auspices of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO). It was the first centre of its kind to be established by AALCO in Asia.

The Centre provides institutional support for domestic and international arbitration and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) proceedings in Asia. It is also the default appointing authority for adjudication in Malaysia and is responsible for training and setting the competency standard and criteria of adjudicators.

KLRCA also offers arbitration for disputes on Shariah-based contracts, mediation/ conciliation, and domain name dispute services.

For more information, please visit www.klrca.org.my or email [email protected].

NCB Capital is the investment arm of The National Commercial Bank (NCB) of Saudi Arabia, one of the largest banks in the Middle East. At its core, it has a market-leading wealth management business and provides clients with award-winning solutions in asset management, securities and investment banking, backed by a professional workforce in Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar and Bahrain of our 300 employees.

It is the largest investment provider in the kingdom in size, share and reach, with over one million clients, and assets under management unmatched by any local competitors. NCB Capital is the market leader in mutual funds in Saudi Arabia. It is also the worlds largest Shariah compliant asset manager.

It has an award-winning equity research team, and is seen as a thought leader in addressing the regions most significant capital markets issues for its clients.

Russell’s index business began in 1984 as a way to measure US market segments and better track investment manager behavior for its investment management and consulting businesses. The resulting index methodology produced the broad-market Russell 3000® Index and introduced the first small cap benchmark�the Russell 2000® Index.

Russell Indexes calculates approximately 700,000 benchmarks daily, covering 98% of the investable market globally, 83 countries and more than 10,000 securities. Approximately US$3.9 trillion in assets is benchmarked to the Russell Indexes.

OCBC Bank (Malaysia) (OCBC Bank) launched its Islamic banking (IB) business through the 'window' concept on the 5^th June 1995 and became the 19^th of 22 commercial banks to operate IB business. After 14 years of operating under the Islamic 'window' business, OCBC Al-Amin Bank commenced its operations on the 1^st December 2008.

OCBC Al-Amin is an Islamic bank that serves across communities, in keeping with the purpose statement of OCBC Bank, this means the bank will strive to make OCBC Al-Amin relevant and attractive to both Muslims and non-Muslims; both businesses and individuals while adhering to the tenets of Islam.

OCBC Al-Amin offers a broad array of specialist financial services, ranging from consumer, corporate, treasury, investment, private and transaction banking.

OCBC Al-Amin now has ten branches and its products and services may also be accessed via all 31 OCBC Bank branches.

Founded in 1997, Samuel Aset Manajemen (SAM) provides a complete range of asset management services for domestic and international investors.

The company is managed by a highly professional and experienced asset management team with a proven track record of delivering consistently above average returns in the Indonesian market, having weathered two of the worst financial crisis in history, the Asian financial crisis in 1998 and the more recent 2008 global financial meltdown.

As of February 2013, SAM currently manages several hundred million US dollars worth of assets for its local, foreign institutional, and high net worth client base.

Trowers & Hamlins is a UK City-led, international and national law firm. The firm has offices throughout the UK, Middle East and a representative Regional Office in Kuala Lumpur, where we provide a full-service integrated offering.

With specialist lawyers in the UK, the Middle East and ASEAN, Trowers & Hamlins has been a market leader in the field of Islamic finance for over 15 years. Ranked in the top ten UK law firms for Islamic finance, our clients include finance institutions as well as public and private sector organizations.

The ASEAN region is an area of continuing growth for the firm and in response to our expanding client base we opened a representative Regional Office in Kuala Lumpur in July 2012.

Our defining characteristics are that we are a friendly, accessible firm which has a commitment to excellence, and which provides a supportive working environment for a wide diversity of individuals.

Millennium Information Solution Ltd is the leading software company of Bangladesh, has over more than 15 years market presence with ISO9001: 2000 certification.

Over the last decade, Millennium has established itself as a consistent and reliable software company through its commitment and dedication towards quality, innovation and customer satisfaction. The company specializes in software solution that provides competitive advantage by improving decision-making process and enhancing business performance of customers.

It brings the talents and market potentials of a group of dedicated software professionals having the dream of glorifying the image of IT in the world market through quality software solutions.

The company specializes in software solutions in the area of Islamic Banking, HRMS & Payroll, Sales Distribution, Accounts Inventory and E-commerce & Corporate Portal.

“Ababil”-the flagship product of Millennium, is ground up designed Core Banking solution keeping Islamic Shariah in perspective. The unique strength of “Ababil” is the fact that the Islamic Shariah based business logics of this product gained maturity with the involvement and input of Shariah Scholars from home and abroad, renowned bankers and field level users since the inception of the product. It also became robust through repeated field tests.

Millennium’s local customers in financial industry include Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited, Social Islami Bank Ltd., Prime Bank Limited, The City Bank Ltd, Arab-Bangladesh (AB) Bank Limited, Agrani Bank Limited and Hajj Finance Company Limited. Clients other than financial industry includes Bangladesh Air Force , Siemens, Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd., British American Tobacco, Banlgalink, UDDIPAN Micro Finance, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), WHO.

Roosdiono & Partners is a full-service corporate law firm founded in 1999 by senior partner Anangga Wardhana Roosdiono. Based in Jakarta, we assist leading corporate clients in diverse fields of industry and commerce. Our commitment is to help clients improve business performance and achieve a competitive advantage through effective legal strategy. In 2005 we joined ZICOlaw, an integrated network of independent legal and related professional service providers in the ASEAN region with offices in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar as well as Australia, to improve our network and the quality of our services. Our firm is one of the front runners in Islamic finance in Indonesia. We advised on the first ever Islamic debt syndication in Indonesia, acted for onshore and offshore lenders for facilities extended to a national oil company. We have access to skills that have created multi-billion dollar Islamic financial deals with award-winning recognition.

As an asset management firm, we tailor investment programs to our clients’ objectives. We are primarily long-term investors, seeking to preserve and grow clients’ capital over time. With more than two decades of Shariah compliant investing experience, the Saturna group is committed to providing high-value services at low cost.

Their expertise covers US equities & fixed income, global equities & fixed income and ASEAN equities.

Islamic Finance news is the industry's leading, capital markets focused, e-newsletter bringing you unrivalled editorial coverage every week on the global Islamic financial market. This weekly newsletter provides insightful and intelligent editorial coverage from around the world helping you keep ahead. In addition to a comprehensive weekly review of all the stories from around the globe, interviews, forums, market statistics and data, key industry practitioners contribute via non-biased, educational and up-to-date country and sector reports, giving you a firsthand knowledge and understanding of the Islamic finance markets and instruments from an experts' point of view.

For a trial subscription, please contact +603 2162 7804 or email [email protected]

Alpha Southeast Asia celebrated its fifth anniversary as a purely Southeast Asian focused institutional investment and transactional banking magazine in 2011. The magazine has remained steadfast in its coverage of Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand).

As a result, the magazine has firmly established itself as the only magazine of choice among institutional investors interested in understanding the region further. Corporate treasurers and chief financial officers in the region have also found our magazine useful given similarities in the ASEAN region. High net worth individuals and white-collar professionals have also found our articles a good alternative as opposed to what is widely available in the mainstream regional press. The magazine remains the only Hong Kong-based regional financial magazine with a dedicated monthly section on Islamic finance.

The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) is the largest and most widely respected professional body for those who work in the securities and investment industry in the UK and in a growing number of financial centers globally. Evolved from the London Stock Exchange, CISI now has more than 40,000 members in 89 countries. In the past year, CISI set almost 39,000 examinations in 68 countries, covering a range of vocational qualifications.

Inside Investor is an international media company, event organizer and business consulting company with offices in Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Hong Kong and Barcelona. It provides business information and data that enables investors at all levels to identify investment opportunities in key emerging markets based on a highly comprehensive portfolio of information and services through multiple platforms; including printed investment reports and events.

Inside Investor also operates a news portal (www.investvine.com) and an online business matching platform (www.insideinvestor.com) that allows private and public institutions to share their interests and to take advantage of opportunities while balancing benefits against risks in order to maximize the success of their ventures.

Inside Investor has built an ever-growing influential global network of key business personalities, senior executives and government officials up to the highest level, and acts as a catalyst between these decision-makers to assist in identifying bilateral business opportunities.

Oxford Business Group (OBG) is a global publishing, research and consultancy firm, which publishes economic intelligence on the markets of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

OBG offers a comprehensive analysis of macroeconomic and sectoral developments, including banking, capital markets, energy, infrastructure, industry and insurance.

The group’s acclaimed economic and business reports are the leading source of local and regional intelligence, while its online economic briefings provide an up-to-date in-depth analysis. OBG’s consultancy arm offers tailor-made market intelligence and advice to firms operating in these markets and those looking to enter them.

The total value of Shariah compliant assets has grown by 150% since 2006 and the market seems likely to continue its rapid pace of development, while continuing to demonstrate its competitiveness and resilience.

As the leading finance publication for Asian corporates and global investors active in the region, The Asset has followed this rise closely and has extended our Islamic finance coverage, as well as organizing the annual AAA Islamic finance awards.

The Asset specializes in providing insight and analysis into the buying behaviour of global investors in Asia, as well as how the region’s leading companies raise and manage their capital.

Wiley is a global provider of content-enabled solutions that improve outcomes in research, education, and professional practice. Wiley’s Professional Development business creates products and services that help customers become more effective in the workplace and achieve career success. It brings to life the ideas and best practices of thought leaders in business, finance, accounting, workplace learning, management, leadership, technology, behavioral health, engineering/architecture, and education to serve these communities worldwide