The Senior Director and Head of Treasury and Financial Institutions of the African Finance Corporation, (AFC), Mr. Banji Fehintola, has said that standardisation and increased awareness are part of key elements that will facilitate growth of Islamic finance in Nigeria.
He stated this on a Proshare WebTV programme, “Islamic Finance Weekly.”
According to him, from a global perspective, Islamic finance still suffers from standardisation problems preventing it from issuing conventional Eurobonds. He also noted that the issue of premium must be addressed to deepen the product.
He said Islamic Finance had the potential of becoming widely accepted in the global financial market as a source of financing.
The Head of Treasury and Financial Institutions for the AFC also called for increased awareness of Islamic finance in Nigeria, through conferences, seminars, top leadership columns, research reports and media campaigns.
Fehintola emphasised the need for Nigerians to understand the value and provisions of the product, which, according to him, is geared towards deepening financial inclusion and driving economic prosperity.
Commenting on Sukuks that have been issued to the tune of N200billion by Nigeria in the past two years, he said they were successful. Sukuk is a positive development in terms of deepening the local capital market, he argued.
He commended the Federal Government for taking the lead in adopting the Islamic Finance product in the country.
“Nigeria has taken a great step in terms of issuing Sukuk, and they are planning to issue the third one. Also, with time we will see corporate issuances in the Sukuk space,” Fehintola said.
On the issue of Issuing foreign-denominated Sukuks, he identified Luxembourg, United Kingdom and South Africa as nations that have issued them.
Fehintola said the AFC has been at the forefront of pushing and tapping into the liquidity provided by Islamic Finance.
Source New Telegraph