Doha – Ahmed Sayed:
Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, the twelfth Doha Islamic Finance Conference, which was held under the title “Islamic Finance in the Era of Proxy Regimes,” was launched yesterday.
Yesterday, His Excellency Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani, Minister of Commerce and Industry, opened the activities of the 12th Islamic Finance Conference under the title “Islamic Finance in the Era of Agent Systems,” in the presence of His Excellency Mr. Ghanem bin Shaheen bin Ghanem Al-Ghanim, Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, Dr. Qutb Sano, Secretary-General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, and His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah bin Fahd bin Jassim Al Thani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dukhan Bank. The conference was launched with international participation from governmental bodies, international organizations, financial and academic institutions in the fields of economics, finance and technology.
His Excellency Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani, Minister of Commerce and Industry, said in a post on his official account on the “X” platform:
I was pleased to open the work of the 12th Doha Islamic Finance Conference, which is being held this year under the slogan “Islamic Finance in the Era of Proxy Systems,” and brings together an elite group of experts, specialists and decision-makers to anticipate the future of Islamic finance in light of the rapid technical developments.
He added: We are proud of the growth this sector has achieved in the State of Qatar and the consolidation of its position regionally and globally, with its assets reaching 718.5 billion riyals during the year 2025, while Islamic banks account for about 28% of the assets of the banking sector, and the country includes banks that are classified among the ten largest Islamic banks in the world, which confirms Qatar’s leadership and advanced position in the Islamic finance industry.
For his part, His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah bin Fahd bin Jassim Al Thani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dukhan Bank, stressed that the world today is witnessing a qualitative shift in the nature of smart technologies, as digital systems are moving towards advanced levels of analysis, interaction and decision-making, which makes agent systems one of the most prominent driving forces of the next stage. In light of this transformation, broad opportunities emerge to reshape financial services and operations in a way that enhances efficiency, flexibility, and the ability to respond to changes, and pushes towards a new generation of financial innovation based on data and knowledge. He said: We at Dukhan Bank Group view these transformations as an opportunity to strengthen the leadership of Islamic banking by employing modern technologies in line with its principles and values. From this standpoint, the bank made digital innovation a fundamental pillar of its journey, believing in the importance of technology in shaping the future of the Islamic financial industry. This trend was reflected in the bank’s performance during the year 2025, as Dukhan Bank continued to achieve strong financial results, recording net profits amounting to 1.3 billion Qatari riyals, while total assets increased by 5% to reach 124 billion Qatari riyals. Customer deposits also grew by 5.3% and the financing portfolio increased by 4.4%, which reflects The solidity of the bank’s financial position and its ability to achieve sustainable growth.
His Excellency added: In terms of digital transformation, the bank continued to launch qualitative initiatives to enhance customer experience and the efficiency of banking services, most notably the launch of the first self-service device of its kind in the State of Qatar to open new customer accounts, which is integrated with the Qatar Digital ID system, allowing the account to be opened and the bank card issued digitally, securely, and in record time.
Accelerated transformations
In turn, His Excellency Professor Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti, Chairman of the Organizing Committee and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bait Al-Mashura Financial Consulting Company, said that the conference comes at a time when the world and the region are witnessing rapid transformations in which the economic, technical and geopolitical dimensions overlap in an unprecedented way. Recent events have shown how developments limited in their geographical scope can quickly spread their effects to global markets, trade and energy movements. In the midst of this scene, agent systems emerge as one of the most reliable tools for managing complexity and accelerating response to changes, as they are capable of analyzing and interacting with a huge amount of data and data and making decisions in record times, which heralds profound transformations in the nature of economic activity and decision-making mechanisms during the next stage.
He added that the expansion of agent systems in the world of finance and business to assume tasks that were limited to humans for many decades makes researching the site of Islamic finance and its role in this future scene a scientific and strategic necessity that goes beyond the limits of interest in the technology itself to anticipating the future of the financial industry and its development paths. The responsibility of Islamic finance does not stop at the limits of benefiting from or adapting to these transformations, but rather extends to contributing to the formulation of a financial model that combines technical efficiency and value control, to ensure that technology remains a means to serve humanity, achieve justice, development, and rebuild the earth.
He continued: This conference aims to provide an integrated scientific platform through which researchers, experts and practitioners in the fields of Islamic finance and smart technologies come together to discuss the latest developments in agent systems, and anticipate the future of these technologies in the Islamic banking environment and endowment and zakat institutions, while studying the legal and regulatory frameworks that govern the work of these smart systems. The conference also presents an innovative topic in the Islamic finance arena about virtual influencers and their role in supporting the endowment and charitable system. Through this platform, the conference hopes to draw an advanced road map for adopting proxy systems in Islamic finance, ensuring integration between technological innovation and commitment to Sharia values, and consolidating the leadership position of the Islamic financial sector at the regional and international levels.
The conference is organized by Bait Al Mashura Financial Consultations Company in a strategic partnership with Dukhan Bank. The official sponsor of the event is the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the diamond sponsor is the General Department of Endowments at the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, the gold sponsor is the Qatar Financial Center, and the bronze sponsor is Al Daman Islamic Insurance Company “Bimah.”
