The year 2009 will be remembered as a milestone for Islamic banking where it passed the test of the crisis and proved its resilience, said an expert in Bahrain.
"This global financial crisis is a golden opportunity for the industry as a whole to come to the front and re-establish itself globally as a main stream and a provider for debt and equity, as well as a lawful and genuine choice," Dhafer Salih Alqahtani, managing director and co-founder, Daraham Capital, said at the two-day fifth annual fund forum which concluded in Bahrain last week.
"Institutionalizing Shariah-complaint products and structures should be a priority for the institutions as well as the regulators and that could only become a reality through creating a unified shariah board under the central banks and capital markets authorities, thus enhancing the standardization of fatwas and structures while eliminate doubts and suspicions about the industry and its products and structures. Also resolving disputes over conformity," he said.
"It is the first time that Islamic banking is being considered as choice if not a substitute to the present structures and systems in term of products and solutions, thus we should capitalize on this reality which is no longer a phenomena or a hype, and enhance our presence globally by all the right means and ways," he said. "The year 2009 as the year of the rebirth of Islamic investment and finance in the form of a new Shariah system considering that we already went through three decades of rapid and random growth that was filled with ups and down and trials and errors," he said.
"Regional institutions should collectively invest in research and development of Shariah complaint products, structures and services to foster uniformity and conformity of Shari'ah compliant products. Capitalizing on this new reality could only come through Innovations as innovation is one of the major drivers for the industry which will in turn expand the products and services offerings and mix," he added.
