It has been a busy month of travel for me. Following my return from Canada I have spent most of my time in the GCC, Singapore and Malaysia. As usual, my comments this month are a reflection on some of the highlights of my travels and a reflection on some of the issues arising.

In many ways my time in the GCC (UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar) was spent joining the dots after a successful trip to Canada. As I mentioned previously, there is a lot of Islamic finance activity going on in that part of North America, and I have been able to take some propositions from Canada and match them with the opposite side of the transaction in the GCC. As a result, new relationships have been forged and friendships developed which, of course, make my role both interesting and challenging.

Sometimes you don’t always see the transaction or the opportunity from the first part until you meet up with the second part, sometimes on the other side of the world, and make the connection. In this high tech world of instant global communication, sometimes the old way of face-to-face communication actually works!

In the GCC there is still a lot of work going on around restructuring. However, in the main, business is coming back and attention is being focused in an eastward and northward direction.

There is a considerable amount of activity brewing between the GCC and Central Asia as well as the ongoing development of bridges to China, India and Southeast Asia.

The signs are encouraging, but there is still much work to do in building relationships and trust, as well as in the key area of clear communication around a common set of terminologies.

I have also had an opportunity to spend a little time on the Takaful front by attending both the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) conference in Dubai and the 5th Annual Asian Takaful Summit in Singapore. Both were very worthwhile events which demonstrated the value of not only networking but also the opportunity to debate and discuss issues arising from the publication of the IFSB exposure draft on standards on solvency requirements for Takaful undertakings.

It would be fair to say that some of the debate was heated and that there is a need for further deliberation and exchange of views in this important area, before the exposure draft is finalized.

What I found very encouraging was the fact that members of the industry are prepared to debate and discuss in a proactive manner in order to uncover all the issues and point the industry in the right direction.

I have mentioned before in this column that I do believe that as an Industry we have the intellectual capacity to make the intelligent debate; however, sometimes we allow ourselves insufficient time to cover all the issues as thoroughly as we should. The old adage of “more haste, less speed” springs to mind!

In the coming month I will be visiting the GCC again, as well as Europe, China and Japan. I hope to be able to report to you once again on the ongoing developments in these areas, from my own point of view.

As usual, there is much to do and not a moment to lose.