Once again, I would like to thank you all for returning to this page. I have very much enjoyed reading your comments and feedback during the last few weeks.  This month I would like to focus on the opportunities that we have ahead of us, so long as we remain patient, persistent and focused on making an impact.Overall, I would like to take a brief look at 4 areas that I believe will be critical during 2017 to take us further forward and into the great wide open. All of them could be tied back to my EPL theory (Education, Perception and Liquidity). All of them have the capability of hav...

  During the last few decades, the Islamic Banking industry witnessed a sustained growth that resulted the total asset size exceeding over two trillion dollars. Now the Islamic Banking is no longer an alien in the global financial industry.Besides the forerunner countries in the industry, such as Malaysia, UAE, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, many Non-Muslim cities are becoming increasingly popular as an Islamic Banking hub. Despite such increasing visibility globally, there is a need for self-check for the Islamic Bankers in order to sustain such growth in the future.In th...

During the last few decades, the Islamic Banking industry witnessed a sustained growth that resulted the total asset size exceeding over two trillion dollars. Now the Islamic Banking is no longer an alien in the global financial industry.Besides the forerunner countries in the industry, such as Malaysia, UAE, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, many Non-Muslim cities are becoming increasingly popular as an Islamic Banking hub. Despite such increasing visibility globally, there is a need for self-check for the Islamic Bankers in order to sustain such growth in the future.In this five-...

Why interest charges are forbidden in Islamic banking?By Dr Hanudin AminBeginning 1983, banking business in Malaysia had witnessed a new development of Islamic banking where interest (riba) was banned for the first time in the nation when the first Islamic bank, Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (BIMB) was introduced.      One of the golden features of the Islamic banking business is the prohibition of interest in financial transactions. Literally, interest means over and above a thing, be it in money terms or in physical units of goods. In Islamic banking, however, int...

During the last few decades, the Islamic Banking industry witnessed a sustained growth that resulted the total asset size exceeding over two trillion dollars. Now the Islamic Banking is no longer an alien in the global financial industry.Besides the forerunner countries, such as Malaysia, UAE, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, many Non-Muslim cities are becoming increasingly popular as an Islamic Banking hub. Despite such increasing visibility globally, there is a need for self-check for the Islamic Bankers in order to sustain such growth in the future.In this five part article ser...

According to Bank Negara Malaysia (2015), the total deposits for savings, current and fixed accounts were RM33,989.30 million, RM63,753.1 million and RM236, 045.4 million, respectively as at December 2015. In the same period, the total investments for special and general investment accounts were RM142.2 million and RM1,746.2 million, correspondingly.  This trend, somewhat, captures the reclassification of deposit and investment products according to Islamic Financial Services Act (IFSA) 2013, in which the former cogitates three purposes viz., safekeeping, transaction and investment where...

I would like to thank you all for returning to this page and I have enjoyed reading your comments and feedback during the last few weeks.  I would like to spend a little time, in this article, to reflect on some of the issues that have been drawing my attention in recent months and that I have commented on in this column previously.I am delighted that more and more traction is being gained with ESG and Responsible Investing all over the World.  The latest numbers that I am able to glean from the RFI Foundation are that over USD 62 trillion in Assets are invested in accordance wit...

2016 was a challenging year for corporate sukuk, with issuances declining across key markets. A whitepaper recently published by Deloitte, addresses some of the key regulatory and practice issues that this asset class faces, in particular delving into three areas: regulation, markets, and business support and guidance. The full whitepaper was recently published on IslamicBanker Publications, and can be read below: Corporate Sukuk: Building the Ecosystem to Finance Sustainable Infrastructure

AAOIFI Shariah Standard On Gold Under Development In Collaboration With The World Gold Council And Its Expected ImpactsI have been asked to articulate on why a stand-alone Shariah standard on gold is essential. Many people would have assumed that gold does not deserve a separate Shariah standard in the AAOIFI production house. They have thought that the guiding principles of gold can be provided under, or made reference to, the existing AAOFI Shariah Standard No (1) under the heading of Trading in Currencies as gold has been perceived by the overwhelming majority of the scholars, both...

 Once again my sincere thanks for returning to this page and for all your helpful and constructive comments after last month’s article on “Oil up the gears and move through them.” The comments I made certainly stimulated some feedback and the constructive discussion that ensued is as always welcomed. This month’s article is very much a continuation of the last two. Under normal circumstances, I would probably be looking for another topic to explore, but as a result of attending an event towards the end of October, I thought I might share with you the impact tha...