Malaysia is on the right track to become a leading global Islamic finance hub in the near future, says Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah.
He said the advantages possessed by the country included the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp (IILM), established in 2010 with the cooperation of 12 central banks, whose function was to pioneer government initiatives involving the development of Islamic finance at the international level.
“The Thomson Reuters’ Islamic Finance Development Report 2018 showed that Malaysia remains a leader among 56 countries for Islamic finance institutions,” he said in Parliament today in response to a question from Senator Asmak Huin. “This illustrates that the setting up of the IILM in 2010 as a government ‘frontier’ to develop Malaysia’s Islamic finance sector at the international level was the correct step towards making Kuala Lumpur the best global Islamic finance hub.”
Amiruddin said Bank Negara Malaysia was appointed the arranger and manager for sovereign sukuk issuance of countries such as Turkey and Hong Kong, which proved that Malaysia was increasingly acknowledged internationally as a leading Islamic finance hub.
Responding to Asmak’s supplementary question on the government’s plan to increase the talent pool and human capital involved in Islamic finance, the deputy minister said the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (Inceif) offered bachelor degrees and doctorates that could provide the expertise needed to bring the sector to the international level.
“In 2018, through its Islamic finance bachelor and doctorate programmes, Inceif was accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, which placed the centre among the top five per cent of international institutes which offer business and Islamic finance programmes.”
Amiruddin said the International Shari’ah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (Isra) also offered bachelor and doctorate programmes on Fiqh Muamalat (Islamic law dealing with finance and commerce), and the academy was also a negotiator in matters related to Islamic finance for African and Commonwealth countries.
Source New Straits Times