MANAMA, BAHRAIN, 23 January 2019 — IIFM (International Islamic Financial Market) and BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance & Trade), announced today the release of their joint initiative of creating global master participation agreements to support the development of Islamic Trade Finance business.
The IIFM-BAFT Master Participation Agreements (IIFM-BAFT MPA’s) consist of two separate standardized framework documentation to cater for Shari’ah-compliant Unfunded and Funded participation arrangements for Trade Finance transactions. The standard master agreements are supplemented by a Structure Memorandum and an Operational Guidance Memorandum to provide better understanding on use of the documentation from Shari’ah, legal and operational aspects. In addition, there is a separate Shari‘ah pronouncement for each master agreement.
“Trade finance plays an important role in the global financial system and for Islamic finance it presents a huge opportunity which the market participants must avail,” said Khalid Hamad, Chairman of IIFM. He added, “The IIFM-BAFT Master Participation Agreements, like previous IIFM Standards, will provide greater transparency, cost and time efficiency, legal certainty as well as Shari’ah harmonization which in turn will contribute in creating more active Islamic Trade Finance business.
“Islamic trade has become an important transaction stream in many markets,” said Tod Burwell, President and CEO of BAFT. He added, “By standardizing the framework for Shari’ah-compliant participation arrangements relating to trade, we hope that transaction execution will become easier and trade will continue to facilitate economic growth in these markets.”
“The IIFM-BAFT MPA’s are developed based on a comprehensive industry consultation process under the guidance of the IIFM Shari’ah Board and provide the financial market participants with a robust and ready to use documentation,” said Ijlal Ahmed Alvi, CEO of IIFM. He added, “This is yet another major accomplishment for the Islamic finance industry and going forward IIFM will aim to tackle other pressing issues relating to trade finance including Islamic Trade Finance products as part of the MPA’s development.”
IIFM and BAFT acknowledge the support of The Waqf Fund (Bahrain) for providing financial assistance grant in the development of these important standard documentations which is helping in the sustainable development of Islamic finance industry.