DFM shapes Islamic capital markets at Dubai Finance Forum
Eric Salomons, Executive Vice President and Head of Product Development at Dubai Financial Market, joined leading voices from across the global Islamic finance sector to chart the evolution of Sukuk markets and digital innovation.
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The Future Islamic Finance Forum 2026 convened more than a thousand senior stakeholders and experts from across fifty nations, drawing together the architects and custodians of Islamic finance to examine the currents reshaping capital markets at the intersection of tradition and technology. Against a backdrop of deepening interest in Shariah compliant investment structures, the gathering offered a candid assessment of where opportunity lies and how the sector must evolve to capture it.
Eric Salomons, Executive Vice President and Head of Product Development at Dubai Financial Market, participated in a panel discussion centred on Islamic Capital Markets: Trends and Innovation. The conversation ranged across the transforming landscape of Sukuk, the asset class that has become central to Islamic finance architecture. The panel examined how the market might deepen its reach beyond institutional investors, exploring pathways for retail participation and the design of investment products tailored to a broader constituency of capital seekers and allocators.
Much of the discourse turned to the opportunities digital technology presents. Tokenised Sukuk and digitally native Islamic instruments emerged as focal points, representing a frontier where distributed ledger infrastructure and compliance frameworks converge. The panellists explored how such innovation might democratise access to traditionally complex instruments, reduce settlement friction, and create new architectures for investment structuring.
The Forum itself served as a rare convening space, bringing together the perspectives of regulators, market operators, fund managers, scholars and institutional investors from across the Islamic world and beyond. Such gatherings matter precisely because Islamic finance operates within layers of cultural, legal and commercial complexity, and because consensus on future direction requires dialogue conducted at the highest levels of expertise and authority.
The emphasis on both Sukuk evolution and technological enablement reflects a sector in considered transition. Rather than rupture with precedent, the tone throughout was one of thoughtful expansion: how to serve more participants, create more instruments, and harness modernity without compromising the principles that give Islamic finance its distinctive character and appeal.
Imagery courtesy of Dubai Financial Market (@dubaifinancialmarket).