A central problem in Islamic finance is the extremely limited availability of short-term financial instruments in international currencies, which can be used to manage the liquidity of Islamic financial institutions (liquidity meaning a short-term excess of assets over liabilities, or vice versa). The result is that the (rather significant) assets of Islamic financial institutions are severely under-invested, which imposes a large economic cost on them. In addition, this inability to manage liquidity can raise financial stability concerns in times of market stress.

The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) is a newly-formed supranational institution set up to address this problem by creating and issuing high-quality, short-term, Shari’a-compliant financial instruments in reserve currencies.

The members of IILM are the central banks of Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, and the UAE, the Islamic Development Bank and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector. IILM is hosted in Kuala Lumpur by the Malaysian government, and its staff members are from a wide range of countries.

An internship opportunity exists this summer at IILM’s offices in Kuala Lumpur to work on these challenges. This is an unusual chance for a student with a strong interest in finance or law to see how the global financial system and its actors operate at the highest international and national decision-making level, while thinking about and working on a many-faceted, multi-jurisdictional problem involving law, Shari’a and finance.

A basic understanding of central banks is very helpful, and students should plan to develop it by appropriate reading before joining.

Scope of work

  • working with IILM staff on various projects research projects and presentations
  • assisting with research on economic and financial topics
  • assisting with preparation of written presentation materials
  • assisting in developing financial analyses

Requirements

  • some academic work in finance, economics or law, plus a strong interest in considering these fields
  • professionally
  • excellent academic credentials
  • excellent English writing skills

Preferences, but not requirements

  • cultural familiarity with member states
  • Arabic language skills
  • having completed at three years of university