Flexible Professional Certificate in Islamic Finance

This course examines the key principles of audit and compliance applicable to Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs). The students will be exposed to Shariah governance and internal control frameworks, laws, regulations, guidelines and standards for IFIs.

This course is designed to equip students with the working knowledge of the structures of the instruments, regulatory and shariah frameworks of the Islamic Capital Market (ICM). In achieving this objective, students will be exposed to the structure of the Islamic Capital Markets across different jurisdictions, regulatory and shariah frameworks, and various structures and contracts of shariah compliant ICM instruments. students are expected to gain practical skills in structuring and analytical skills in assessing ICM instruments.

The purpose of this course is to improve students’ analytical skills. The course will provide students with the knowledge and skills to apply the fundamental and advanced quantitative and qualitative techniques to analyse and develop solutions to contemporary business challenges. At the beginning of the course, students will learn the foundation of analytical tools. The students will apply them to analyse real-world issues. The course will conclude with the challenges and opportunities of the big data. In addition, this course is a preparatory course for candidates to undertake their Project Paper and other assignments.

This course covers the aspect of ethics and professionalism that are critical for developing leadership, governance and management skills. It includes understanding key aspects and the application of concepts, principles, codes and standards of ethics and professionalism for effective governance and sustainability of organisations as corporate citizens.

The objective of the course is to expose students to the risk management framework (RMF) and process (RMP) in banking. Student will acquire skill in identifying, measuring and mitigating risk in loans and financing such as credit, market, liquidity, operational and Shariah non-compliance risk. In the RMF the student will acquire the ability to analyse critically the role of corporate governance, internal control, capital allocation and banking supervision in the banking organisation. The course will also explore new risks faced by Islamic bank that were not found in conventional banking and implications from banking regulations.

This course covers analysis of financial statements issued by Islamic Financial Institutions from different financial reporting regimes i.e. AAOIFI and IASB. The students will be able to validate reporting strategies adopted by Islamic Financial Institutions in communicating their financial sustainability.  In addition, the course provides opportunity for the students to apply accounting knowledge in the context of Shariah compliance business.

This course provides students with a sufficient grounding in the core disciplines of business strategy development and how to apply them. Students examine the strategic concepts and tools that facilitate understanding of the challenges and opportunities of the business environment, strategy formulation, implementation, and evaluation. This course equips students with the practical concepts and tools for analysing organisational strengths and weaknesses as well as market opportunities and threats.

The course examines risk from the Islamic perspective and ways of mitigating it in accordance with Shariah and explains why insurance is forbidden and hence the advent of takaful. It discusses the various takaful business models, products, and the key operational process of takaful. The study of the regulatory environment in various jurisdictions is a must for all takaful students as the industry is highly regulated. The actuary plays a key role in the takaful organisation, and its position is a requirement in most jurisdictions. The study of the actuarial principles and concepts are critical product design, pricing, underwriting, investments and reserving.

The course covers five major components of wealth management: (1) wealth generation which is the primary source of wealth management. Wealth can be in the form of employment income, business and trade. (2) Wealth protection is where all our wealth needs to be protected through takaful or Islamic insurance. (3) Wealth accumulation is a constant process that involves generating more wealth and, in the process, we need skills. (4). Wealth purification such as zakat, sadaqah and waqf as in the process we might have tainted our wealth, (5) Wealth Management from Islamic perspective.

The course introduces Islamic banking practices, the underlying philosophies and Shariah principles that drive Islamic banking, legal, tax and regulatory perspectives and recent developments in this industry. Students are also be informed of the suite of Islamic banking products, value-chain of the banking business, financial technologies, basic techniques and practice on how to manage Islamic Banking Institutions and finally, some contemporary and pertinent issues in Islamic banking are discussed.

This course critically examines the socio-economic challenges facing communities and nations globally and assesses how Islamic finance instruments such as zakat, sadaqah, waqf and takaful may be used with modern technology to alleviate hardship and develop communities, in line with the Maqasid al Shariah and the UN goals for sustainable development.

The course provides in-depth knowledge of economics principles and theories relating to macro and microeconomics issues. Students will be able to analyse economic issues and assess/evaluate policy options involving short, medium and long-term agenda of the society. Emphasis will also be given to reviewing the assumptions of conventional economic theories from the perspectives of Islamic economics and Islamic finance. This, in turn will prepare the students to recommend strategies and policies for the development of Muslim society.

This module covers the essential of shariah tools required to converse in Islamic banking and finance concepts and appreciate the governance mechanism, audit structures and basic laws in Islamic contracts. Students are expected to gain fundamental skills and understanding how Shariah is applied across the most relevant Islamic finance components that is banking, takaful and Islamic capital market.

This course is a method of learning that involves working on real projects, issues and challenges in collaboration with selected partner companies, using models taught in the classroom and supported by mentors, faculty experts and industry leaders.

This course is designed to give students an insight into the documentation requirements for Islamic financing facilities and services. The course aims to equip students with basic knowledge about legal documentation requirements for Islamic financing facilities and services and particularly how these differ from documentation for conventional loans. They would be taught to gain familiarity with such documents and to spot inappropriate provisions included therein or essential ones missing therefrom. Such familiarity will enable them to challenge legal counsel on documents they prepared and not accept without question the documents they produced. They will be trained to recognise various risks and the consequent losses that could arise from poor documentation.

This course provides knowledge on basic theories and practice of corporate finance in real markets. The exposure to the actual current practice of corporate finance in real markets is achieved through invited industry speakers’ case-studies and industry-based problems. Each student is assigned to summarise and submit a written report on two academic articles on corporate finance issues. Overall, within the limited time of the scheduled 14 lecturers of 3 contact-hours lecture per-week, students are provided with the basic knowledge of corporate finance and the industry practice.

This course is designed to equip students with the working knowledge of the structures of the instruments, regulatory and shariah frameworks of the Islamic capital market (ICM). In achieving this objective, students will be exposed to the structure of the Islamic Capital Markets across different jurisdictions, regulatory and shariah frameworks and various structures and contracts of shariah compliant ICM instruments. students are expected to gain practical skills in structuring and analytical skills in assessing ICM instruments.

This course is designed to prepare students with research tools in undertaking their dissertation/thesis. It focuses on the philosophy and theory of research methods by equipping students with approaches and techniques, which they may use in carrying out their dissertation/ thesis. Students will be exposed to theory and application of quantitative, qualitative and big data analytics research tools and methodology.

The course covers linear algebra; differentiation and integration; ordinary and partial differential equations; probability theory; stochastic differential equations; option theory. The problem sets are drawn from the discipline of economics and finance. The course will also facilitate students undertaking quantitative research.

Islamic banks used to deposit funds to extend financing. They are required to take and manage the risks associated with the financing operations, which include credit, business, market, liquidity and operational and Shariah non-compliance risks. The objective of the course is to expose students to the risk management process (RMP) in banking. The RMP will identify, measure and mitigate risks in the 1st line of defence of risk governance. The course will also expose students to the risk management framework (RMF) that served to expedite the RMP. In the RMF, corporate governance, internal control and capital allocation constitute the infrastructure for RMP. Some risks faced by Islamic banks are unique; hence, special attention is required to identify, measure, mitigate, detect and rectify them accordingly. The course will also expose students to the Pillar 3 Disclosure of the Basel Standard and banking supervision to evidence risk management performance of commercial banks.

This course covers analysis of financial statements produced by Islamic Financial Institutions from different financial reporting regimes i.e. AAOIFI and IFRS. The students will be able to justify reporting strategies adopted by Islamic Financial Institutions in communicating their performance. In addition, the course provides an opportunity for the students to apply accounting knowledge in the context of Shariah governance framework.

This course provides students with a sufficient grounding in the core disciplines of business strategy development and how to apply them. Students examine the strategic concepts and tools that facilitate understanding of the challenges and opportunities of the business environment, strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation. This course equips students with the practical concepts and tools for analysing organisational strengths and weaknesses as well as market opportunities and threats.

The course examines risk from the Islamic perspective and ways of mitigating it in accordance with Shariah. We will examine why insurance is forbidden and discuss the contractual and operational differences between takaful and conventional insurances. Students will learn of the various takaful business models, product types and the key operational areas in takaful e.g. underwriting, claims and financial management. The course will also examine closely the regulatory environment in various jurisdictions as the industry is highly regulated. Another topic that is covered is the actuarial aspects and functions in takaful, as this area is key to its financial soundness and sustainability. The appointed actuary position is a legal requirement in most jurisdictions.

The course covers five major components of wealth management: (1) wealth generation which is the primary source of wealth management. Wealth can be in the form of employment income, business and trade. (2) Wealth protection is where all our wealth needs to be protected through takaful or Islamic insurance. (3) Wealth accumulation is a constant process that involves generating more wealth and, in the process, we need skills. (4). Wealth purification such as zakat, sadaqah and waqf as in the process we might have tainted our wealth, (5) Wealth Management from Islamic perspective.

The course covers theories and principles of Islamic banking. The emphasis of the subject will be on regulatory and operational framework, product development, performance and efficiency and innovative banking solutions. Students will be also exposed to contemporary issues and equipped with various tools to analyse issues and propose solutions for the banking industry.

The course focuses on the macroeconomic implications of money markets and monetary policies. It also covers the IS-LM-AS framework and discusses various contemporaneous issues including monetary credibility, monetary policy and exchange rate regimes and others. Throughout the course, the emphasis will be on applying the macroeconomic theoretical and analytical framework to analyse emerging issues in monetary economics.

The course provides in-depth knowledge of economic principles and theories relating to macro and microeconomics issues. Students will be able to analyse economic issues and assess/evaluate policy options involving the short-, medium-, and long-term agendas of society. Emphasis will also be given to reviewing the assumptions of conventional economic theories in light of sustainability concerns. An evaluation of the Neo-Classical and Classical paradigms of economics will be discussed in this course. A synthesised approach to economics that includes market systems and behavioural concerns of consumers and firms relating to the UN Sustainable Goals will be covered in this course. Topics on Islamic economic perspectives and policies will be discussed throughout the course. This, in turn, will prepare the students to recommend strategies and policies for the development of Muslim society.

The course covers theoretical aspects of Islamic jurisprudence and general law of formation of Islamic contracts. Students will understand the significance of Islamic jurisprudence and law to Islamic finance, and their practical applications.

This course covers various types of sale based, partnerships and supplementary contracts used in Islamic Finance. Students will be able to comprehend the theoretical and practical applications of these contracts not limited to Islamic Banking, Takaful and Islamic Capital Markets.

The course focuses on foreign exchange markets for spot and forward currency transactions, determinants of exchange rates, currency risk management, currency derivatives instruments, multinational corporate finance and international capital movements. In addition, the emphasis is on the application of theoretical models to address practical issues and Shariah concerns in international finance. The course is meant to develop skills for students to think internationally.

The objective of this course is to provide knowledge on how to plan, construct and manage portfolios of financial assets. This includes elements of investment, portfolio theory, equilibrium in capital markets, risk/return tradeoffs and optimal portfolios, security portfolio analysis, managing risk using derivatives and issues related to shariah compliant portfolio investments.

This course covers econometric techniques commonly applied in empirical banking and finance research. These include advanced time-series econometrics and static and dynamic panel data modelling. In deliberating these advanced econometric techniques, the course deliberates their practical applications in analysing actual time-series and panel data as well as link them to economic/financial theories. The use/application of these econometric techniques is demonstrated using statistical software.

The course provides financial and quantitative skills in building financial models. It covers quantitative models relating to active investing, investment styles, portfolio construction and management, pricing financial instruments, credit risk model, derivatives and valuation. The aim is to apply modern finance theory into practices through building investment models and strategies.

This course covers financial econometric methods starting from unit root and cointegration test to VAR/VECM modelling. It demonstrates these methods theoretically and applies them to test hypotheses using time series data. The course develops the ability of students to use statistical software (EVIEWS and/or STATA) to estimate the models and to write an empirical paper using the methods covered in the class.