Dubai—Dentons addressed Islamic finance industry stakeholders at the 2015 IFN Issuers Forum held in Dubai on 13 September. As well as debating the state of Islamic finance against the backdrop of a fast-changing global economy, the conference considered several themes that may shape the industry in the future, such as crowd-funding, the lifting of sanctions in Iran and the growing relationship between the Middle East and Asia exemplified by the recent US$6 billion Indonesian sovereign Sukuk listed on NASDAQ Dubai.

The event was opened by Dr Mohammed Fetanat, the President of the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran. Abdulla Al Awar, CEO of the Dubai Islamic Economic Development Center, delivered a keynote speech commenting on the evolution of Islamic finance into a comprehensive financial system, as well as Dubai's own initiatives to be part of the projected global growth of Islamic finance over the next few years to over US$3 trillion.

Qasim Aslam, Dentons' Head of Islamic Finance in the Middle East, chaired the main morning session entitled "Raising Capital in the Current Economic Environment." Aslam commented, "What has been interesting this year is the breadth of perspectives from around the world. Islamic finance is now a part of the global financial landscape. Inevitably, its performance is inter-linked with global economic factors including the ebb and flow between equity, capital and other markets as well as economic sentiment generally. That all makes for healthy discussions within the industry and ultimately may dictate how it evolves".

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