The partner capital market in Russia was discussed in Moscow
A meeting of the subcommittee on Islamic finance of the all-Russian public organization "Business Russia" was held in Moscow. The Subcommittee was established as part of the activities of the Financial Services Committee.
The topic of the meeting of the Subcommittee on Islamic Finance was the partner capital market in the Russian Federation, namely investment attraction instruments (sukuk bonds). The meeting was held in a mixed format, a number of participants were connected via videoconference.
The event was attended by representatives of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, JSC MICEX, JSC St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange, JSC Status, consulting companies, banks, financial agencies, JSC Gazprombank Leasing, JSC MGKL, GAP Resurs, as well as heads and representatives of territorial divisions Business Russia is one of the republics participating in the partnership (Islamic finance) experiment.
The meeting was opened by A. V. Danilov-Danilyan, Deputy Chairman of Delovaya Rossiya. In his speech, he noted that one of the most promising areas for the development of the partner (Islamic) financing market in the Russian Federation is to attract investments by issuing sukuk– the Islamic equivalent of classic bonds. Currently, much attention is being paid to the development of the sukuk market in Russia: in early January of this year, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Manturov instructed relevant departments, together with the expert community, to prepare proposals on measures to expand and structure it. It was noted that the development of the market of Islamic financial products in the Russian Federation takes place with the close cooperation of market participants with the regulator represented by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, as well as relevant departments – the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation and infrastructure organizations. It was also proposed to use the Subcommittee on Islamic Finance as a platform for discussing and developing practical solutions aimed at developing the partner finance market with the involvement of a wide range of business representatives, authorities and market participants.
The meeting was continued with a speech by R. A. Yedikhanov, Head of the Subcommittee on Islamic Finance. He described the structure of the Islamic finance market in the Russian Federation, outlined the current situation and development prospects, taking into account the dynamic development of the financial sector. It was emphasized that currently there are all prerequisites for the organization of sukuk issues on the Russian market for a wide range of issuers.
It is worth noting that the Republic of Tatarstan is showing maximum activity in the field of Islamic finance development and the issuers of the Republic can become pioneers in the sukuk market.
R. R. Khaliullin, an expert at the Russian Center for Islamic Economics and Finance at the Russian Islamic Institute, told the participants about the main forms of sukuk and the underlying transactions. He also focused on the issues of Sharia compliance that arise in the course of practical work. Using a practical example of a transaction conducted on the basis of the Status investment platform, the expert illustrated the prospects and relevance of the emergence of new Islamic financial products, in particular, a liquidity exchange platform on the partner finance market (an analogue of interbank in classical finance) based on investment platforms.
This topic was continued by the speech of L. M. Mironova, General Director of Status JSC. The speaker spoke in detail about the financing deal conducted in October last year on the Status platform between the Sheikh Zayed Foundation for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Support (Chechen Republic) and Amal Software (Republic of Tatarstan). The transaction was organized and structured by AS SALAM (Republic of Tatarstan). It was noted that the transaction was the first and fundamental for the formation of the modern partner (Islamic) capital market in Russia using digital tools and allowed us to fully successfully test the mechanism of such transactions. During this transaction, there was a synergistic effect when combining Islamic financial products and modern digital technologies. The head of Status JSC invited all institutional investors to participate in the activities of the Status digital platform for the exchange of liquidity.
The meeting was followed by a broad and productive discussion of the participants and experts. All the invitees noted the need to adapt the existing financial infrastructure of the capital market to Islamic financial products, as well as the prospects for filling the exchange market with traded partner finance instruments (sukuk) in order to form a basic product line to attract foreign investment.
Following the meeting, positive feedback was received from both the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and representatives of business and infrastructure companies in the financial market.