The Roundtable is an annual event, the venue alternating between Oxford and Kuala Lumpur. The 6th Roundtable in this highly successful partnership with the Securities Commission of Malaysia and the Centre was held at Ditchley Park on 14-15 March, preceded by a dinner in London attended by Islamic finance and conventional banking sector leaders.  HRH Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, Sultan of the State of Perak, gave the keynote speeches at the dinner and at the opening session of the Roundtable. The Roundtable delegates comprised a select group of key industry practitioners, senior academics, Shariah scholars, and regulators from around the world.

This year’s meeting entitled ‘Seeking Sustainability: the Role of Islamic Finance in Transformational Change’ focused on the ethical issues surrounding Islamic finance, and the relevance of Islamic Finance for the provision of a more stable and sustainable financial order, especially in light of the recent banking crisis. Several case studies looking at social impact were examined and the meeting considered whether values-based finance needed extensive regulation, whether it could truly compete in terms of financial performance, and whether it could fully achieve Shariah compliance when still largely dependent on the wider conventional banking infrastructure.