Cambridge Judge Business School’s new Islamic Finance programme has opened its doors to its first intake of delegates.
The Islamic Finance Executive Education Programme will be offered in Cambridge, London and Dubai, led by Dr Kamal Munir, Reader in Strategy & Policy, and Dr Khaled Soufani, Senior Teaching Faculty in Finance.
The programme lays the essential groundwork for competing effectively in the Islamic finance environment and explores the business opportunities and challenges of the field.
Delegates enrolled for the first programme come from backgrounds in conventional and Islamic banks; investment, fund and wealth management; regulation and consulting. They will study IF from the fundamentals of the model through risk assessment, choosing the right business models, balancing profit and social need, assessing complementing conventional products and the financial catalysts and determinants of success in Islamic finance.
Delegates will also have the opportunity to gain insights from senior Islamic banking leaders and fellow students at receptions in Cambridge, London and Dubai.
Dr Munir said:
We are delighted to be offering this new programme in Islamic finance which is fast becoming a hugely attractive field in the global finance industry, with asset growth of 150 per cent since 2006. The UK government is showing increasing commitment to this much lauded ethical framework for conducting financial transactions. We feel there is no better time to offer a course that will cover not just the conceptual apparatus, but the various opportunities and challenges that face Islamic finance, whose growth shows no signs of abating.”
Cambridge Judge Executive MBA student Baljeet Kaur Grewal is one of the first intake on the new IF course and a driving force behind establishing the programme. Managing Director and Vice Chairman of KFH Research, an investment research subsidiary of Kuwait Finance House, Baljeet has received the Sheikh Rashid al-Makhtoum award for her contribution to Islamic finance research and development in Asia. She said:
The Islamic finance programme is a tremendous opportunity which allows participants to explore Islamic finance as an ethical option to conventional finance. As the Islamic finance industry is expected to grow to USD1.8 trillion by 2015, the number of participants and global financial players is set to increase, making the programme timely and the content structured around important themes including strategy, banking models, innovation and risk management.”
The programme was promoted by Prime Minister David Cameron in a speech to the World Islamic Economic Forum in London last month, as part of the evidence he put forward to position the UK as a major centre for Islamic Finance.