The financial institutions sector has grown and expanded significantly in recent years, he pointed out that the expected volume of Islamic banking during 2010 to increase at an estimated of $1 trillion, said Abdulrazak Elkhraijy, the head of the National Commercial Bank (NCB)Islamic Banking Development Group, who is heading the bank delegation participating at a conference in Bahrain on Nov. 27-28 organized by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions in collaboration with the Bahrain Monetary Agency and the World Bank. He said some recent statistics in this area indicate that the number of Islamic financial institutions reached more than 300 institutions distributed in more than 75 countries, including 110 Islamic Takaful company and other Islamically-compliant investment funds that deal $1.3 billion worth in assets. In addition, it issues Islamic bonds during the current year worth $14.7 million. He added that the large portion of the Kingdom's investments will be placed in new economic cities, infrastructure, energy and development of the private sectors. He also indicated that a large portion of the required finance is Islamically compliant. The conference will discuss a number of discussions including “harmonizing the legal rules and regulation”, followed by “international accounting standards and the possibility of violating the rules of legitimacy”. The third discussion is titled “Mechanisms and standards shift from traditional to commercial insurance company of Islamic Takaful”. On the second day, meetings will discuss “Capital markets and investment management in Islamic financial institutions in light of the current global financial crisis.” The second meeting will address “Islamic bonds and securities” followed by a “negotiable debt” between legality and reality. The fourth meeting will discuss “Tawarruq mechanisms and uses.” The bank will participate in the exhibition accompanying the conference. __
