Ernst & Young was a Gold Sponsor at the General Arab Insurance Conference held May 17-19, 2010. The conference was hosted in Jordan and organized by the Jordan Insurance Federation in cooperation with the General Arab Insurance Federation. The conference was attended by over 1,500 participants representing large local, regional and international organizations operating in the insurance and reinsurance sectors, in addition to a number of prominent investors, brokerage, Third Party Administrators (TPA), loss adjustors and lawyers.

In an interview with Trade Arabia, Ernst & Young shed light on the purposes for its involvement in the conference. “This conference is one of the largest taking place in the Middle East that brings together notable economists and insurance experts,” said Bishr Baker, managing partner at Ernst & Young, to Trade Arabia. “The financial crisis has undoubtedly impacted the sector, giving new meaning to the concept of liability, and so it is time to put forward strategies for companies to follow in order to maintain stability in the market.”

The third edition of Ernst & Young’s ‘World Takaful Report 2010: Managing performance in a recovery,’ unveiled at the 5th Annual World Takaful Conference of 2010, confirmed that the global Islamic Insurance (Takaful) industry is on course to surpass $8.8 billion in contributions in 2010. Contributions grew by 29 percent in 2008 to reach $5.3 billion.

For the original Trade Arabia story, please click here: https://www.tradearabia.com/news/BANK_180219.html

In the last few weeks, there have been a number of stories in the headlines about the need for new talent among the Islamic financing world.

Astbury Marsden has reported that Islamic finance could create significant new jobs in London, which is intending to play a central role in the future expansion of the Islamic finance sector.

Earlier in May 2010, Kuwait Finance House (KFH-Bahrain), hosted 38 MBA students from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in a seminar designed to introduce them to Islamic financing and business transactions.

Most recently, Reuters has reported that there is a shortage of qualified professionals in the Islamic finance sector. “There are about 15 highly qualified internationally recognized scholars who are financially savvy and who understand modern finance,” said Harris Irfan, head of Islamic products at Barclays Capital, to Reuters. “It’s very difficult to get time with those 15 as they sit on dozens of boards and are very much in demand.”

For the original Reuters story, please click here: http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-48970520100601