TRANSPARENCY and clarity, as well as sufficient laws, will help improve the work of industry players such as bankers, government bodies and lawyers in the local and regional Islamic finance industry, said a senior partner at a law firm said during the Islamic Finance News (IFN) Roadshow 2010 yesterday morning
Muhd Jamil Abas Abdul Ali, senior partner at Abrahams Davidson and Co, said, "Laws have to be sufficient. If they are not sufficient, you can find or you will find players, such as bankers, syariah advisory committees of banks, lawyers, accountants they will have difficulty in trying to structure, research and come up with viable products," Jamil said during a panel discussion entitled "Islamic Finance Regulatory and Infrastructure Developments".
Most of the time, he added, they'll end up trying to guess what will happen, how it will be dealt with, which of the laws will be applied and "most of all, you might find that, in particular, lawyers and bankers, will not know whether particular products such as documents, all documents, will or will not be upheld by a secondary court".
Jamil also said that one of the main elements to address in the Islamic Finance industry in Brunei, "is that the major players in the industry require sufficiency of laws, (and) where there are gaps, where they just (don't) exist, the law has to be affected to provide what your own regulatory (and) legal framework (doesn't)".
"You also have to bear in mind, what are to be constituted in these legal framework?," he posed a question to the approximately 100 attendees, adding that "within the legal framework, there are certain acts that have gaps".
These should be filled in, he said, with solutions that are not only suitable, but "assist the development and growth of Islamic banking and finance towards product development and implementation".
Muhd Jamil Abas Abdul Ali, senior partner at Abrahams Davidson and Co, said, "Laws have to be sufficient. If they are not sufficient, you can find or you will find players, such as bankers, syariah advisory committees of banks, lawyers, accountants they will have difficulty in trying to structure, research and come up with viable products," Jamil said during a panel discussion entitled "Islamic Finance Regulatory and Infrastructure Developments".
Most of the time, he added, they'll end up trying to guess what will happen, how it will be dealt with, which of the laws will be applied and "most of all, you might find that, in particular, lawyers and bankers, will not know whether particular products such as documents, all documents, will or will not be upheld by a secondary court".
Jamil also said that one of the main elements to address in the Islamic Finance industry in Brunei, "is that the major players in the industry require sufficiency of laws, (and) where there are gaps, where they just (don't) exist, the law has to be affected to provide what your own regulatory (and) legal framework (doesn't)".
"You also have to bear in mind, what are to be constituted in these legal framework?," he posed a question to the approximately 100 attendees, adding that "within the legal framework, there are certain acts that have gaps".
These should be filled in, he said, with solutions that are not only suitable, but "assist the development and growth of Islamic banking and finance towards product development and implementation".
