Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan, 27 June 2022 – Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Vice President Finance & CFO, Dr. Zamir Iqbal, has delivered a statement on capital markets to the participants of the Islamic Finance Conference.

In his statement, Dr. Iqbal touched upon the development aspects of capital markets, where the rapid evolution of financial technology has changed the way the financial sector stakeholders operate and transact.

He highlighted that managing operations with real-time data enhances the decision-making and outreach adding that growing calls for financial decentralization and tools based on blockchain have impacted the way the data is imported and stored.

“Technologies like blockchains, smart contracts, NFTs, and others have the potential of eliminating or reducing the clustering problem of information asymmetry, which could be used in risk-sharing of contracts as advocated by Islamic Finance. In this context fintech, has converted capital markets to agile platforms. With the new technologies, new risks emerged, such as data protection and cyber security that should be ensured by the capital market. It must be highlighted that the capital markets have been tested by the pandemic impact and now we are confronted with the question of how to mobilize the funding in the post-pandemic world to ensure a resilient economy and green recovery,” he elaborated.

Dr. Zamir Iqbal informed the audience that the Islamic Development Bank has issued a series of Green Sukuks, which have been listed at AIX, to mobilize the needed financial resources for its member countries. He highlighted the fact that IsDB assisted many of its member countries in developing the Islamic finance capital markets through its technical assistance operations that allowed the countries to create the enabling environment to issue Sukuks. Finally, he reiterated that IsDB is committed to assisting the countries in the region to further develop its capital markets among other areas.  

The Islamic Finance Conference was a part of the Astana Finance Days Conference, which is a unique regional platform for professional discussion to build effective financial and economic solutions. This year, the Astana Finance Days Conference is held under the theme of “Sustainability. Social Responsibility. Growth” and featured discussions on Islamic Finance Conference, Capital Markets Forum, Retail Investors Forum, Belt and Road Initiative Session, Fin & Tech Forum, Green Growth forum, AIFC Law Conference, EdTech Forum, Investment Forum, and many other sessions. The conference was attended by 29 countries, 13 of which participated in an offline format.