Islamic Finance and Governance Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Treasury Managers, Corporate Finance Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-BI-129

Before you join: Participants should have practical familiarity with corporate finance, banking products, accounting, risk, compliance, audit, legal documentation or governance processes.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Corporate finance teams, treasury functions and financial institutions increasingly need funding, investment and insurance arrangements that meet Shariah requirements while remaining commercially viable, properly governed and transparently reported. The challenge is not simply selecting an Islamic contract. It is establishing clear ownership, risk transfer, pricing, documentation, control responsibilities and Shariah oversight throughout the transaction lifecycle. Weak governance can result in invalid structures, income purification, regulatory findings, reputational damage and disputes between boards, management, investors and Shariah advisers.

This course examines the principal Islamic finance structures used for corporate funding, investment, capital markets and insurance. Participants assess murabaha, ijara, mudarabah, musharakah, wakalah, salam, istisna and sukuk structures against business needs, contractual requirements and risk allocation. The programme also addresses Shariah governance, board and committee responsibilities, internal controls, Shariah review, non-compliance management, AAOIFI reporting considerations, IFSB governance principles and takaful operating models. Participants learn how to evaluate transaction terms, identify control weaknesses and set practical governance requirements for Islamic finance activities.

Teaching combines focused briefings with financial-services cases, contract reviews, governance scenarios, group analysis and structured application planning. Cases reflect corporate treasury funding, Islamic bank product approval, sukuk issuance, takaful arrangements and Shariah non-compliance incidents. Participants leave with reusable governance and transaction-assessment materials, including a Shariah governance calendar, financing structure comparison model, control-testing schedule and 90-day implementation plan.

The course is suited to professionals who already work with finance, risk, audit, compliance, treasury, legal documentation or governance and need a working command of Islamic finance structures and controls. It is relevant to Islamic and conventional financial institutions, corporate finance teams, public-sector issuers, development institutions and firms operating in jurisdictions where Islamic finance is a material funding or investment channel.

What you will be able to do

  • Evaluate Islamic finance structures against corporate funding, investment and risk requirements
  • Apply Shariah principles to assess ownership, risk transfer and contractual permissibility
  • Compare murabaha, ijara, musharakah, wakalah and sukuk financing alternatives
  • Design Shariah governance arrangements using AAOIFI and IFSB principles
  • Conduct Shariah compliance reviews using documented testing and evidence protocols
  • Prepare governance reports covering financial performance, risk indicators and compliance issues
  • Assess takaful arrangements, fund segregation and cooperative insurance controls
  • Build a prioritised Islamic finance governance remediation plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Assess Islamic financing proposals with greater confidence during treasury and investment decisions
  • Recognise Shariah governance weaknesses before they become audit or regulatory findings
  • Contribute informed comments on sukuk, murabaha and ijara transaction documentation
  • Develop practical credibility with Shariah boards, advisers and Islamic banking counterparties
  • Produce clearer governance reports on Shariah compliance, risk and remediation progress

For your organisation

  • Improve selection of Islamic funding structures aligned with business cash-flow requirements
  • Reduce Shariah non-compliance exposure through clearer approvals and control ownership
  • Strengthen board oversight of Islamic finance products, transactions and risk appetite
  • Improve audit readiness through documented review procedures and evidence retention
  • Support more reliable reporting of Islamic finance income, fiduciary assets and purification amounts

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can apply core Shariah principles when assessing financial transactions.

  • Shariah objectives, prohibitions and contractual ethics shaping financial decisions
  • Riba, gharar and maysir tests applied to transaction structures
  • Distinguishing asset-backed, asset-based and conventional debt funding
  • Four Sunni schools and recognised areas of juristic difference
  • Substance-over-form review of commercial purpose, risk and ownership
  • Islamic finance ecosystem: banks, sukuk, funds and takaful operators

Participants can distinguish major Islamic contracts and select suitable uses.

  • Murabaha sequence: purchase order, title transfer, disclosure and sale
  • Ijarah structures: usufruct, maintenance, insurance and residual-value allocation
  • Mudarabah and musharakah profit-sharing ratios, losses and agency constraints
  • Salam and istisna financing for commodity and project delivery
  • Wakalah appointments, fees, investment mandates and fiduciary boundaries
  • Mapping contract combinations against Shariah permissibility and operational feasibility

Participants can compare Islamic financing alternatives for corporate funding requirements.

  • Assessing funding needs through working-capital, asset and project-finance lenses
  • Comparing murabaha, ijara, sukuk and syndicated facilities for corporate funding needs
  • Term-sheet review: pricing, security, covenants, undertakings and events of default
  • Commodity murabaha mechanics, broker roles and documentation control points
  • Cross-border considerations: governing law, tax, enforceability and currency risk
  • Selecting structures using cost, tenor, risk transfer and Shariah criteria

Participants can assess sukuk structures, cash flows and governance responsibilities.

  • Sukuk asset classes: ijara, wakala, murabaha, musharakah and hybrid pools
  • True-sale analysis, beneficial ownership and recourse in sukuk documentation
  • Cash-flow waterfalls, reserve accounts and distribution-period calculations
  • Rating-agency considerations, credit enhancement and investor disclosure requirements
  • Listing, settlement and trustee duties in capital-market transactions
  • Refinancing, dissolution events and purchase-undertaking risk analysis

Participants can establish governance accountabilities and risk controls for Islamic finance activities.

  • Three-lines model adapted for Shariah, financial and operational risk
  • Board, Shariah supervisory board and management accountability matrices
  • IFSB governance principles for independence, competence and disclosure
  • Risk appetite statements incorporating displaced commercial and fiduciary risks
  • Credit, market, liquidity and operational risk measurement under Islamic contracts
  • COSO internal-control components mapped to Islamic finance control activities

Participants can plan Shariah oversight, review procedures and non-compliance responses.

  • Shariah governance framework: appointments, mandates, reporting and remuneration safeguards
  • Independence tests for scholars, internal reviewers and external Shariah auditors
  • Shariah review plans, sample selection and evidence-retention protocols
  • Non-compliance event classification, escalation, rectification and income purification
  • Fatwa register management and product-change approval controls
  • Regulator reporting, public disclosures and stakeholder communication protocols

Participants can identify key accounting and reporting requirements for Islamic finance transactions.

  • AAOIFI Financial Accounting Standards compared with IFRS reporting requirements
  • Recognising murabaha profit, ijarah income and mudarabah investment results
  • Impairment assessment, expected-credit-loss issues and collateral treatment
  • Presenting restricted investment accounts and fiduciary assets appropriately
  • Shariah non-compliant income identification, purification and disclosure entries
  • Preparing board reports linking financial results, risk and compliance

Participants can evaluate takaful models and their governance control requirements.

  • Takaful operating models: wakalah, mudarabah and hybrid arrangements
  • Tabarru fund segregation, participant risk pools and qard support
  • Retakaful placement, underwriting controls and claims-governance requirements
  • Accounting boundaries between shareholders' funds and participants' funds
  • Family takaful and general takaful product risk characteristics
  • Evaluating cooperative insurance alternatives within employee-benefit programmes

Participants can identify conduct risks and strengthen ethical decision controls.

  • Agency conflicts, related-party dealings and fit-and-proper assessments for directors
  • Whistleblowing channels, investigation protocols and protected disclosure arrangements
  • Anti-bribery controls in broker, supplier and intermediary relationships
  • Responsible-finance screening using sector exclusions and Shariah investment criteria
  • ESG claims assessed against governance evidence and prohibited-income exposures
  • Conduct-risk indicators, complaints data and customer-treatment reporting

Participants can create a practical plan for strengthening Islamic finance governance.

  • Gap assessment against AAOIFI, IFSB and internal policy requirements
  • Prioritising remediation through risk ratings, ownership and target dates
  • Designing a Shariah governance calendar for board and committee cycles
  • Control testing schedule covering contracts, approvals, payments and disclosures
  • Management information pack using key risk and compliance indicators
  • 90-day action plan with milestones, resources and escalation triggers

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Islamic financing structure comparison model
  2. Shariah governance accountability matrix
  3. Shariah review and evidence checklist
  4. Sukuk transaction risk assessment template
  5. Takaful governance control checklist
  6. 90-day governance remediation plan

Who should attend

  • Treasury Managers — assess Shariah-compliant funding and liquidity options
  • Corporate Finance Managers — structure financing proposals and review transaction terms
  • Islamic Banking Managers — strengthen product, governance and control decisions
  • Risk and Compliance Managers — monitor Shariah non-compliance and regulatory obligations
  • Internal Auditors — test Shariah governance and transaction control evidence
  • Legal Counsel — review Islamic finance documentation, approvals and contractual risk

Skills and tools covered

Islamic financing structuresShariah governanceSukuk analysisCompliance reviewTakaful controlsGovernance reporting

Tools and standards

AAOIFI Financial Accounting Standards, IFSB Governance Principles, COSO Internal Control—Integrated Framework, Three Lines Model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish concepts, followed by transaction cases, contract extracts, governance scenarios and facilitated group analysis. Participants assess financing structures, identify risk-allocation issues, review Shariah compliance evidence and consider board reporting requirements. Simulations address product approval, non-compliance escalation and governance committee decisions. Each participant applies the methods to a relevant business context through structured planning, supported by instructor feedback and peer discussion.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical familiarity with corporate finance, banking products, accounting, risk, compliance, audit, legal documentation or governance processes. They should be comfortable reading financial statements, facility terms and basic risk reports. Prior exposure to Islamic banking, sukuk or takaful is helpful but not essential. The course explains core Shariah concepts before applying them to transactions and governance arrangements. It does not require Arabic language capability, prior study of Islamic jurisprudence, quantitative modelling expertise or specialist accounting qualifications.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should understand basic finance, banking, accounting, risk, audit or governance concepts. Previous Islamic finance experience is useful but not required, as the course establishes the relevant Shariah principles before applying them.

Bring a laptop or tablet if possible, together with a non-confidential example of a financing, governance or compliance issue from your work. Course materials are provided, and no specialist software is required.

It is designed for treasury, corporate finance, banking, risk, compliance, audit, legal and governance professionals. It also suits managers responsible for approving or overseeing Islamic financing, sukuk, investment or takaful arrangements.

General Islamic banking courses often focus on products and market concepts. This course places greater emphasis on corporate funding decisions, transaction assessment, board oversight, Shariah governance, internal controls and reporting responsibilities.

Participants can use the structure comparison model to assess financing options, the governance matrix to clarify responsibilities, and the review checklist to test controls. The implementation plan helps convert course findings into assigned actions and reporting milestones.

The five days comprise approximately 32.5 contact hours, normally delivered from 08:30 to 16:30 each day. Time is divided between instruction, transaction and governance cases, group analysis, simulations and implementation planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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