Conference on global islamic banking industry opens in Manama

The Third World Bank Annual Conference on Islamic Banking and Finance opened here Monday to discuss Islamic financing and how to manage Islamic liquidity risks. Governor of the Bahrain Central Bank, Rashed al Miraj called for taking lessons from the mistakes of traditional banking systems in the world financial crisis. Opening the conference, he called for transparency in quarterly and annual statements. Sheikh Ebrahim bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Chairman of The Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) Board of Trustees, said that the organisation had already issued 86 standards in accounting, auditing, ethics, governance and Shari’a. The new standards in accounting, he said, pertained to investing in sukuks, shares and financial instruments, and to the conceptual framework for financial reporting by Islamic financial institutions. The new standard on conceptual framework for financial reporting would update and replace existing standards on objectives and concepts of financial reporting by Islamic institutions, he added. Updated guidance on accounting treatment for both on balance and off balance sheet investment accounts was a key area incorporated in the new standard on conceptual framework, he said.