There is a noticeable shift from traditional bank financing toward alternative financing across multiple asset classes in the GCC and beyond, which is resulting in the rise of instruments such as venture debt funds. In this episode, brought to you by King and Spalding, Asal Saghari and Mike Rainey explore this trend, bringing us expert insights and analyses to help us understand this shift and how it impacts the financing landscape.  ..read more

There are areas of opportunities in the Islamic private equity and venture capital space, particularly in the GCC and Southeast Asian regions, where Lim Say Cheong, the CEO of Saudi Venture Capital Investment Company, has focused on in the last decade. He shares his insights with IFN in this episode with Nessreen Tamano ..read more

reNIKOLA Solar II issued the world's first Climate Bonds Initiative-certified Sukuk in September this year. Marlena Kareem, the editor of ISFI, speaks to Khong Ho Ming, the executive director and COO of reNIKOLA, about this landmark issuance ..read more

The Islamic insurtech sector in Malaysia is still relatively small, but CEO of Ouch!, Shazy Noorazman, believes that more players will emerge as the digital Takaful opportunity is hard to ignore. Shazy discusses the prospects and pain points of the industry in this episode with Vineeta Tan.  ..read more

Ratings play a significant role in the voluntary carbon market space.  Marlena Kareem, the editor of ISFI, speaks to Ronan Carr, the chief research officer at BeZero Carbon, about the role of ratings in the carbon market, its recent issuance of the world’s first pre-issuance rating for a carbon project as well as the mispricing of carbon credits ..read more

Do currently available taxonomies adequately address sector-specific transition concerns and what are salient additions to later versions? Assessing disclosure requirements and developing an effective climate change curriculum for financial institutions How are governments and exchanges enabling the trading of carbon credits, and what are the objectives and benefits of such initiatives? Defining the role of the financial sector in facilitating an effective energy transition in conjunction with the National Energy Policy How will the pace of adoption of ESG by SMEs impact the banking sector an ..read more

What is driving the shift toward transition and sustainability-linked bonds and Sukuk issuance, and how do we maintain this momentum? What options do the deployment of sustainability-linked financing structures offer issuers, and are they properly understood? How do we better identify viable underlying assets for transition and sustainability-linked issuance, while also verifying the actual uses of proceeds? What role does transition and sustainability-linked finance play in the development of sustainable projects and infrastructure development? How can adherence to KPIs in the post-issuance p ..read more

Interviewee: Azman Mokhtar, Chairman, Malaysia International Islamic Finance Centre Leadership Council Interviewer: Zainal Izlan Zainal Abidin, Former Deputy Chief Executive, Securities Commission Malaysia ..read more

What steps are necessary to ensure Islamic sustainable investors are offered a common definition of climate risk standards in ASEAN? What is driving innovation of Islamic sustainable and social finance and investment products, and are we successfully creating products which satisfy both Shariah and ESG requirements? How do systematic tilts in portfolio allocation resulting from Shariah screens influence ESG integration in the development of Shariah-screened ESG funds? What is the role of the asset management sector in directing capital to social causes, and how can Waqf be further deployed to ..read more

Marlena Kareem, Editor, Islamic Sustainable Finance & Investment, REDmoney Group ..read more