The National School of Commerce and Management of Kenitra organised, in collaboration with the University Dauphine Paris, an International Symposium on Islamic finance.
The Research Laboratory in Management Sciences of Organisations of the National School of Commerce and Management (ENCG) of Kenitra recently organised, in collaboration with the University Dauphine Paris, the first edition of the International Symposium on finance around the theme "Islamic Finance: Alternative model for the development of global finance?".
Sadok Khazrouni, director of the ENCG, underlined that this symposium was of capital importance given the questions it raises and the answers it can provide to researchers and students of this great school. "The choice of the theme is not fortuitous, knowing that this meeting constitutes a beautiful occasion for exchanges and discussions around the values and practices of Islamic finance, an integral part of a larger system, that of the Islamic economy," he noted. "A doctrine which, like the others, has its own system of values," he indicates in substance.
For his part, Omar Kettani, university professor and expert in the Islamic economy, considered that the Arab-Muslim world was the cradle of economic sciences. "Well before Ricardo and Adam Smith, Muslim thinkers such as Ibn Khaldoun, Al Makrizi or Al Bairouni laid the first foundations of an economy based on an equitable redistribution of wealth in accordance with the principles of 'Zakat' and 'Al Infaq'," he specified. The speaker did not fail to recall that the Islamic economic system introduced the logic of solidarity "Attakafoul" in every economic act. He, moreover, considered that civil society could play a preponderant role, in this regard, by investing itself in a field that adopts the principles of the social economy as we discover it today.
It should be underlined that through this symposium, researchers questioned the capacity of Islamic finance to serve as an alternative model for the development of global finance. This reflection takes on particular importance for Morocco, currently engaged in a regulatory reform project with a view to opening the national financial landscape to this form of alternative finance.
To do this, the organisers of this symposium deemed it opportune to start with an analysis of the demarcation boundaries between Islamic finance and conventional finance, in search of the sources of divergences, but also the stakes of the integration of Islamic finance into the global sphere. They looked, in the second place, at the evaluation of the expected qualities of Islamic institutions in terms of good governance, but also risk management.
This meeting was also an opportunity for participants to analyse the technical, legal and fiscal properties of Islamic products with a view to approaching the spirit of Islamic prescriptions beyond questions of form. The analysis of the communication and marketing of Islamic institutions presents another light on this question. Finally, an evaluation of the contributions of Islamic finance in a more global framework of economic development was carried out, and notably, the propensity of Islamic micro-finance to favour investment, social inclusion and sustainable development.
It should be underlined that several speakers insisted on specifying, during this first symposium, that the debate on the Islamic economy and finance should be removed from any ideological and Manichaean charge.
