Discover the FIIF

Purpose of the Institute

The purpose of the French Institute for Islamic Finance is to promote and help the development of Islamic finance, in France and in the world, and to help Paris to become one of the most attractive place for this finance industry, with its dynamism and its ability to innovate. The Institute also aims to mobilize the financial resources of Islamic investors in favor of French companies and local administrations.

In order to achieve these goals, its "Training & Expertise department" aims to create, develop and update, together with private and public organizations, training programs about the Economy of the Muslim world and the industry of Islamic finance. These programs were created to help professionals working in French financial institutions or investment companies, leaders of companies operating (or who wish to operate) in countries of Islamic tradition, managers of innovating small-business companies who are looking for partners for their international development, local officials and financial managers of local administrations, business lawyers and finance experts. This training aims to let them learn about the various perspectives offered by the instruments of Islamic finance, but also how to optimize the use of French contract law for their projects of Islamic funding and to make the most of the new synergies between Islamic and conventional finance.

Responding to the desire of President Sarkozy to "enhance the attractivity of Paris stock market" and to make it "a competitive cluster “Finance Industry-Technology and Innovation”", the "Research and documentation" department of the Institute aims to organize and promote, nationally and internationally, exchanges between professionals of the Islamic and conventional finance industry, lawyers and jurisconsults, academics and researchers.

The Institute has a dual objective:

• coordinating and refining, for a greater legal certainty, the necessary progress to be made in matters of regulation and compliance with the combined requirements of the Sharia and of prudential and accounting standards;
• establishing lines of research aimed at producing stronger synergies between conventional and Islamic systems in the conception and optimization of financial products and of project co-financing.

In order to complete this second mission, the Institute has the expertise of a stock-exchange Sharia board and will create a library to welcome researchers and postgraduates (French and from abroad). The FIIF will also publish and distribute the French Review of Islamic Finance.

The department "Institutionalization-Communication" will also have a dual objective:

• ensuring the influence of the Islamic financial center of Paris, at both national and international levels, with the development of its website www.institutfrancaisdefinanceislamique.fr, aiming to promote works of Institute and of its partners, to conduct a weekly monitoring review and to attract, in association with foreign partners, the major relevant contents in Islamic finance.
• facilitating relations and trades in both directions between French and international actors of finance and economy, using the databases and the advanced communication means provided by this site.

Status and organization

The French Institute for Islamic Finance is a non-profit organization. Within the next two years the Institute will become a foundation.

Mr Hervé de Charette, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Franco-Arab Chamber of Commerce, is the President of the Institute.

Dr Saleh Al-Tayar, General Secretary Franco-Arab Chamber of Commerce, is Vice-President.

Mr Jean-Paul Laramée, CEO of Secure Finance and founder of the French Forum of Islamic Finance, is Secretary-General.

Deputy Secretary-General: Mr Eric Hélard, Director of External Relations of Franco-Arab Chamber of Commerce. Mr Hélard is in charge of institutional relations and communication.

Mr Hadi El Assaad, Board Member of the Exporters' Club of France, is Advisor to the President for the relations with foreign finance institutions and funds.

The work of the three departments of the Institute will benefit from the inputs and the operational experience of its partners (BID, IRTI, Franco-Arab Chamber of Commerce and Secure Finance). Under the direction of the President and Secretary General, they are led and supervised by the members of the Strategic Committee, who are experts in the following areas:

• Regulation:
  Mr Jean-Louis Fort, Lawyer, former Secretary-General of the Banking Commission and former Director General of the Banque de France
• Finance Law:
  Mr Gilles Saint Marc, Partner lawyer, Gide Loyrette Nouel, President of the Paris Europlace Islamic Finance Commission
• Applicable Law and Dispute Resolution in Islamic Financing:
  Mr Georges Affaki, Member of the Executive Committee, Structured Finance Manager, CIB Legal, BNP Paribas
• Conventions and International Contracts:
  Mr Mehdi Haroun, Partner lawyer, Herbert Smith LLP
• Takaful Development:
  Mr Chakib Abouzaid, CEO Takaful Re
• Academic Research:
  Mr Ilyes Jouini, Professor, Paris-Dauphine University, co-author of the Europlace report on the stakes of Islamic finance in France
• Islamic Civilization: History, Religion, Culture:
  Mrs Dominique de Courcelles, Research Director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
• Islamic Law and Islamic Business Jurisprudence:
  Mr Beddy Ould Ebnou, Jurisconsult, President of Averroes Conseil

The Strategic Committee is expected to gain new members in these areas, at the suggestion of its current members and of the Secretary-General.