The Sixth Scientific Seminar of the "Approaches to an Alternative International Monetary System" Project
On November 12, 2025, the sixth seminar of the joint HSE University and University of Campinas research group "Approaches to an Alternative International Monetary System" was held at the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs. Invited lecturer from the School of World Economy I.B. Turuev and project participant A.A. Ponomarenko presented their research findings at the seminar.
I.B. Turuev delivered a report focusing on the role of Islamic financial instruments as a significant component of global capital markets. The presentation centered on the paradigm of alternative partnership finance, based on the principles of risk-sharing and the prohibition of interest payments (riba), gambling (maisir), and excessive uncertainty (gharar). Key instruments of this model were examined in detail, such as:
- Musharakah and Mudaraba — forms of partnership financing where investor income is generated from a share of the project's profits, not a fixed interest rate.
- Ijara — an analog of financial leasing, structuring the relationships of asset ownership and usage.
- Sukuk — investment certificates representing ownership shares in an underlying asset, fundamentally distinguishing them from conventional debt bonds.
- Qard al-hasan — interest-free benevolent loans.
Special emphasis was placed on the strategic potential of these instruments for solving macro-financial tasks, particularly sovereign debt conversion. Amid the global debt crisis, transforming liabilities into asset-backed sukuk allows for converting the debt burden into joint investments in the real sector of the economy. This creates a synergy of interests: the debtor country refinances its obligations by channeling resources into infrastructure, while the creditor receives income from realized projects, minimizing default risks.
The key conclusion of the report is the thesis of financial systems convergence. Islamic finance, representing a developed ethics-oriented model, demonstrates the necessity and possibility of creating a common technological and legal infrastructure. Such infrastructure is designed to ensure the seamless integration of various classes of financial instruments—both traditional and alternative—into a single global capital markets space, enhancing their resilience, inclusivity, and efficiency.
A.A. Ponomarenko's report was dedicated to the innovative concept of "European Safe Bonds" (ESBies), proposed by M. Brunnermeier et al. in 2011. The essence of the concept is to create a universally accessible safe asset for the Eurozone by pooling the debts of all member countries and splitting the pool into a super-safe senior tranch (ESBies) for banks and a risky junior tranch (EJBies) for speculative investors. A.A. Ponomarenko discussed the possibility of using alternative financial instruments as junior bonds and the applicability of this concept for developing countries.
At the end of the seminar, participants discussed the challenges and prospects of applying the instruments proposed by I.B. Turuev and A.A. Ponomarenko.