During his keynote speech at the "Resilience of Bahrain's financial sector" seminar, held at the Gulf Hotel Convention Centre, Bahrain on the 1st and 2nd of November 2011, Mr. Abdulhakeem Alkhayyat, the Managing Director and CEO of KFH-Bahrain, stressed on the major advantages of the Islamic banking and finance system and discussed the future directions of the industry.Mr. Alkhayyat's presentation opened the first session of the seminar entitled "Islamic Banking: Is it the way forward?", where he emphasized that the main elements of the Islamic finance industry are based on real long term guarantees with an asset based system and that is the foundation stone of Islamic banks. "The government needs to issue more sukuk in order to provide short-term liquidity instruments that Islamic finance needs, we cannot look to the private sector to provide this". "Most financial institutions in the region have sufficient liquidity and have no need to raise money through Islamic bonds so it falls on governments to raise cash if they are to provide the necessary sukuk to allow Islamic financial institutions to hold these instruments. Islamic financial institutions by nature utilize funds in development projects that stimulate the economy", he added. "I strongly believe that a highly ethical, well-regulated and a transparent Islamic financial system is the way to the future, with effective corporate governance and with better interaction with relevant international, regional and local institutions, will definitely help all those who want to contribute to the welfare of their community and economy" Alkhayyat concluded. Kuwait Finance House - Bahrain (KFH-Bahrain) was the Title sponsor of the event, which was organized by the Bahrain Chapter of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and held under the patronage of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). The seminar focused on the way forward for Bahrain's financial sector and reaffirmed Bahrain's pre-eminent standing as the regional hub for banking and finance. The two-day event attracted almost 400 participants from the financial sector in Bahrain. Over twelve speakers participated in the seminar, including a key note address by Mr. Khalid Hamad, Executive Director, Banking Supervision, CBB and a roundtable discussion about the future of banking in Bahrain. The seminar discussed several topics including the impact of recent events on the banks in Bahrain; the effects of economic regulations to manage the crisis; how Bahrain can maintain its lead role as the premier financial centre of the region; how to translate the vision 2030 into reality in these circumstances; how can retail banks survive in the tough competitive market; is Islamic banking the future of banking; what growth opportunities are for the financial sector in Bahrain and several other topics.