Monday 24th June 2019
Venue: House of Lords.
Shaykh Ruzwan Mohammad presented on the EFD detailing the approach taken, how the 6 values were identified, the ontological approach taken and the lessons from the process of collaboration in pursuit of shared values towards financial and economic policies. Omar Shaikh highlighted the role for faith groups in informing and contributing to the rise of responsible and ethical finance within the mainstream financial sector.
In recent years there has been increasing anxiety across the globe that the world’s financial system is not working, not only for ordinary people, much less the poor, but that it is not working properly at all. In addition it would not be overstating the case to say that there also moral outrage in many quarters at what is seen as corruption in high places.
In response to the atmosphere of widespread concern about economic and financial issues the Church of Scotland and the Islamic Finance Council UK signed a partnership agreement in March 2016 to co-develop an ethical finance solution open to all of society, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background and based on the shared values between the faith traditions. The first landmark result of this partnership was the publication of The Edinburgh Finance Declaration on 22nd October 2018 – an interfaith shared values framework on ethical finance.
October 2019 will see a further step forward with another major conference in Edinburgh organized by the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) but before then St Benet’s Institute is holding this session at Westminster to engage with the issues raised by the Edinburgh Finance Declaration and to contribute to thinking on the issues involved.