KUALA
LUMPUR: Islamic Finance is moving towards greater convergence with issues on
harmonisation of Syariah interpretation and coordination of international
policy and the governance process among industry players’ main discussion
topics.
Bank
Negara Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said greater dialogue among
scholars and greater awareness would contribute towards harmonisation in
Islamic principles.
“There
is already convergence of 80 per cent of the issues in the Islamic finance industry
and 20 per cent of the fundamental issues are still outstanding.
“But
the move is towards greater convergence,” she said at the 10th Islamic
Financial Services Board (IFSB) Summit at the panel discussion on “Lessons
Drawn: Prospects for the Future.”
Zeti
said the IFSB, which is focusing on institution building, had established the
Islamic Financial Stability Forum to allow greater engagement with the industry
to share information and experience.
“The
next level is the policy coordination, which comes from the international
dimension and governance process,” she added.
Zeti
said in Malaysia, Islamic finance has grown tremendously, with Islamic banking
having grown to 23 per cent of banking system.
Meanwhile,
speakers at the IFSB Summit highlighted the usefulness of Islamic finance in
targetting the poor based on Islamic financial instruments that are based on
risk-sharing principles.
However,
there need to be more human capital development efforts to support awareness of
the benefits of Islamic finance, they said.
Director-General
of Islamic Research & Training Institute (IRTI), Islamic Development Bank
Group, Prof. Dr Azmi Omar, said one such instrument is Islamic microfinance.
“The
use of Islamic microfinance is still not substantial.
“What
we need is to provide the required training and capacity building for Islamic
microfinance to support small businesses,” he said.
(Berneo Post Online / 18 May 2013)
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Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Consultant-Speaker-Motivator: www.ahmad-sanusi-husain.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia: www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com
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