San Francisco, CA- The state of Islamic banking and finance is nearly certain to continue a growth period over the next year. The growth is in despite to the upcoming landscape being challenging as the slowdown of the global economy continue to look cumbersome.
The achievement of the sector over the last year, coupled with “safe-haven investment” among investors will help keep the industry to remain in favorable light.
According to the Economic Report 2012/2013 by the Ministry of Finance, the Islamic banking business will continue to expand over the first seven months of the year, with assets increasing 20.6%. That represents 24.2% of the country’s banking system’s assets.
In 2011, the expansion was 24.1%, reflecting 23.7% of total banking assets.
RHB Islamic Bank Bhd Managing Director Abdul Rani Lebai Jaafar stated that the Islamic finance within Malaysia was prepared to continue to the next stage of its aggressive maneuvering in the global market.
He went on to state the Islamic finance seemed to be capable of being accepted by both the Muslim and non-Muslim communities.
The director did state that 2013 had challenging roads ahead concerning the issue of “funding versus financing” and will remain within the industry where sourcing funding questions created limited resources to be added locally.
Among the challenges was the finite number of trained Islamic bankers that were available to the industry. The demand for the said positions simply outweighed the supply at the current moment.
The International Center for Education in Islamic Finance Chair, Prof. Dr. Abbas Mirakhor stated that authorities would need to have strong commitment in its endeavor to appeal to the pluralistic society.
“It must be framed, communicated and explained to the society in a way that all segments of the society will understand its benefits and no segment is threatened by either the commitment or the progress,” he said, adding that innovation in products would be also important.”
“Malaysia is seen to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to Islamic Banking. Innovation is a key factor to push Islamic banking to a higher level.”
(Official Wire / 04 Jan 2013)
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Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia: www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com
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