Edbiz Consulting organised 6th Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA) at Fairmont Hotel, Jakarta, on September 29. President Joko Widodo was the guest of honour and received the prestigious Global Islamic Finance Leadership Award 2016 for his championship role in promoting Islamic banking and finance in Indonesia. “There are only a few leaders in the Muslim world, who have shown 100% commitment to providing Islamic banking and finance a level playing field in their respective countries, and President Jokowi is one of them,” said Professor Humayon Dar, Chairman of GIFA.
The award was presented to President Joko Widodo by Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II of Kano who himself was installed as GIFA Laureate 2015 in Bahrain last year. Since 2011, Edbiz Consulting has honoured heads of governments and states for their leadership roles in Islamic banking and finance. The previous GIFA Laureates include Tun Abdullah Badawi (former Prime Minister of Malaysia), Sultan Nazrin Shah of Perak, Shaukat Aziz (former Prime Minister of Pakistan), Nursultan Nazarbayev (President of Kazakhstan), and Emir Muhammadu Sanusi of Kano, Nigeria.
Speaking on the occasion, President Joko Widodo reaffirmed his support for Islamic banking and finance and stated, “There are ample opportunities for Islamic finance to play a role in Shari’a tourism and halal industry in Indonesia.” He also informed the delegates that his government would like to make Indonesia as a global hub of Shari’a tourism in which Islamic finance has to play a lead role.
Besides, there were 66 awards presented to Islamic financial institutions and individuals coming from 15 countries of the world. Six market leadership awards were presented to market leaders in different segments. Most notable of these was Market Leadership Award presented to Dubai Islamic Bank. Dr Adnan Chilwan, Group CEO of Dubai Islamic Bank received the award. “We have already committed ourselves to Indonesia by investing in Bank Panin and will continue to develop Islamic banking worldwide,” he stated in a buoyant mood.
There were numerous award winners from the GCC, including Kuwait Finance House, Al Baraka Islamic Bank Bahrain, Mitsubishi UFG Bank Dubai, Deloitte & Touche Middle East, Moody’s Dubai, Islamic Research & Training Institute (a member of the IDB Group), the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), and Raqaba.
“The coverage of GIFA is comprehensive, as we include all the industry stakeholders from politicians to academicians that have played leadership roles in their respective fields,” said Dr Sofiza Azmi, CEO of Edbiz Consulting. “Since 2011 when GIFA was founded, the awards programme has come a long way to become the number one Islamic finance awards programme in the world.” She continued.
The awards ceremony was supported by Bank Syariah Mandiri and Omarco, a UK-based group promoting financial inclusion through innovative Islamic financial products. The official host was Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK), which also co-organised with Edbiz Consulting a half-day international conference on Islamic finance.
© Press Release 2016
