Certified Sukuk Specialist

It is for structuring bankers, investment and treasury staff, Shari'ah reviewers and advisers who work on sukuk issues. It concentrates on the Shari'ah standards on sukuk, AAOIFI Shari'ah Standard No. 17 (Investment Sukuk) and Shari'ah Standard No. 62 (Sukuk), which is intended to replace it: the nature of sukuk and how they differ from bonds, the parties, the main types, real ownership of the assets, the ban on guarantees by the manager, purchase undertakings, use of proceeds, distributions, maturity and the rules on trading. It also covers sukuk governance under AAOIFI Governance Standard No. 12: the sukuk's Shari'ah supervisory board and its fatwa, the special purpose vehicle and trustee, management of the assets, changes, restructuring and external Shari'ah audit.

How it works: study the linked courses Islamic Banking, Capital Markets, Takaful and Social Finance and Governance of Sukuk, Waqf, Crowdfunding and Syndicated Financing, then sit a 40-question certification exam in 75 minutes. The pass mark is 70%, and the certificate is valid for three years.

This is an independent ifSPACE certification. It is free, it is not an AAOIFI qualification, and it is not accredited or endorsed by AAOIFI or any regulator.