Islamic banking to expand
By Mohamed NAALIR
The Islamic capital market in Sri Lanka stands to gain from the
country's GDP growth, which exceeded eight percent in 2011, and its
position as an emerging economy in Asia is also on the rise.
This has attracted considerable attention from foreign investors
which include GCC and South East Asian investors looking to tap into the
country's Islamic banking and finance market, said Managing Director and
CEO, Amana Bank, Faizal Salieh at the Islamic Finance News roadshow at
the Hilton recently.
He said that the Government was an important catalyst in the creation
of Islamic banking and finance market with the amendment of the Banking
Act No. 30 in 2005 for the licensing of Islamic banks and financial
institutions enabling them to offer selected Islamic financial
instruments.
Since its establishment in the late '90s, Islamic banking in Sri
Lanka has garnered sufficient interest from Muslims and non-Muslims.
The current non-Muslim consumer market in Sri Lanka constitutes more
than 20 percent of the total Islamic banking market share, and these
figures are expected to grow as education and awareness of Islamic
banking products increase in the country, he said. Islamic funds,
Takaful and microfinancing are also fast becoming major sectors in the
country.
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