Back-to-back training programs for four conventional banks on “Islamic Banking and Finance: Fundamental Concepts and Applications” have been conducted in Uzbekistan. The programs were developed by the Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI) in collaboration with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) (www.ICD-ps.org), the private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank Group.

The training programs were delivered in the local Uzbek language from 24 January to 25 February 2022 by experienced Islamic Finance experts. The training programs were conducted over a duration of five days for each bank on subjects including Principles of Islamic Finance, Islamic Financial Contracts, Introduction to Shari’ah Standards, Islamic Banking Products, Islamic Modes of Finance, Liquidity Management and Risk Management in Islamic Financial Institutions.

Total number of participants in the training was 125 from different departments of the banks such as credit, accounting, operations, foreign economic, and treasury.

Senior management of Orient Finans Bank, Turonbank, Xalq Bank and Kapitalbank attended the opening of their respective training programs. They expressed gratitude to IsDBI and ICD for organizing the training programs. They all expressed strong support for any activities related to the opening of Islamic windows in the near future.

Dr. Rami Abdelkafi, head of IsDBI Knowledge Leaders Team, praised the fruitful collaboration between the Institute and ICD in capacity-building activities. IsDBI and ICD collaborated in many other learning programs in Islamic Finance related to implementing Sharia-compliant or interest-free banking in the IsDB Member countries. Dr. Abdelkafi added that the Institute is looking forward to further collaboration with ICD in this regard.

Principle Advisor at ICD, Mr. Muzaffarjon Nizamidinov, spoke about the significance of the cooperation between IsDBI and ICD. He further elaborated regarding the tremendous benefit of such training programs and launching of Islamic windows at conventional banks. He stressed the point that before launching Islamic windows, the ultimate task is to prepare professional staff in Islamic finance via trainings. Without training, Islamic windows cannot be established or operate properly. He recommended to organise several training programs for the banks aspiring to start the Islamic windows operations.

He further explained that opening Islamic banks would benefit retail banks by attracting additional funds from individuals and SMEs who would be able to obtain Shari’ah complaint financing.