AJANS ÜNİVERSİTE
Our Center organized a panel discussion on the “Importance and the potential of capital markets from the perspective of participation finance and sharing economy” on the 27th of April in our conference hall at Seyyid Hasan Paşa Medresesi in Beyazit, Istanbul. The two panelists, namely, Prof. Vedat Akgiray of Boğaziçi University, the Former President of Capital Markets Board of Turkey, and Mr. Himmet Karadağ, the president of Borsa İstanbul, provided quite useful insights both in terms of theory and practice of the subject matter.
In his welcoming speech, Asst.Prof. Mehmet Saraç, the director of the center, emphasized the key role of interest-free financial system in bringing forth an effective and comprehensive capital market and a sustainable, sharing economy. In his greeting speech, Prof.Dr. Haluk Alkan, the Dean of Faculty of Economics, also pointed out the serious potential of interest-free finance in Turkey.
The panel moderated by Prof.Dr. Ahmet Incekara began with the speech of Prof. Dr. Vedat Akgiray. Prof. Akgiray first warned against the threat of high debt and unjust distribution of wealth along the globe. Akgiray briefly said: ‘The richest eight people’s wealth is equal to the wealth of three and half billion people. The crisis make rich richer but the price gets paid by the others. There shouldn’t be any unjust articles in the financial contracts. The parties should share the risk. There should be no guaranteed return…Financial opportunities should be available to all companies either small or large. And companies should be managed in accordance with the principle of transparency. Islamic principles already provide us with all the keys to achieve best corporate governance and sustainable economy.”
Mr. Himmet Karadağ, the second speaker of the panel mentioned about his institution’s efforts in developing Islamic Finance in Turkey and about the continuing support from the political side which help increasing the awareness day by day. ‘Some people still think that without interest, financial markets and trade would not work efficiently. This assumption is completely false.’ Mr. Karadağ also spoke of new products in Borsa Istanbul. “We began selling halal real estate certificates at Borsa Istanbul” he said, ‘and we will multiply our efforts in the near future to diversify and increase the number of halal products’.
At the end of the event, the panelists drew a lottery for real estate certificates and ten students won ten units of real estate certificates each. The participants congratulated the winners hoping that this will increase the awareness of islamic financial products and investment opportunities at Borsa Istanbul.
