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 Malaysia’s advancements in Islamic finance have provided an important springboard to grow and expand transition and green finance, says Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour.
With a mature Islamic finance ecosystem, dynamic and resilient players, diverse products, and comprehensive enabling infrastructure, Malaysia is well-poised to play an important role in addressing the financing needs of climate challenge, according to the Bank Negara governor.
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Islamic banking is undergoing a historic transformation propelled by groundbreaking fintech advancements and is projected to reach $4 trillion by 2026, primarily driven by the GCC nations, a new report said. Assets in Islamic banking have surged from $1.8 trillion to $2.8 trillion in the last four years, according to the report by Red Mad Robot, a digital partner for major businesses in the fields of fintech, telecom, retail, insurance, e-commerce, medicine, and industry, said.   The Turkish Islamic finance industry is projected to reach USD100 billion over the next few years after crossing USD90 billion in September 2023, Fitch Ratings says. This will be underpinned by the sector’s strategic importance to the government, which aims for Islamic banks to reach 15% of sector assets by 2025 (9M23: 8.5%). Top-down support is also evident by the entry of three swiftly expanding state-owned Islamic banks. Sukuk is also a key part of the sovereign funding toolkit, as the government has been able to issue these with notable investor demand despite the challenging domestic operating environment and international debt capital market volatilities.
 The development of Islamic banking in the Philippines aims to benefit all Filipinos, the central bank said, as it works on awareness programs to broaden access to financial services in accordance with Islamic law.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has stepped up its promotion of Islamic finance in the country following a decision in August by the nation’s monetary board to approve the first Islamic banking unit license for a traditional bank.  Uganda’s central bank has issued its first Islamic banking license since the country passed legislation to accommodate Shariah-compliant finance activities in June.
The license went to Salaam Bank Ltd., a unit of Djibouti-based Salaam African Bank, the Bank of Uganda said in a statement Friday.  With Russia’s sizeable Muslim population of 20-25 million, President Vladimir Putin signed a law introducing Islamic Banking in four Muslim republics last month to test the feasibility of the Islamic finance model. If the program succeeds, the model will be implemented in the rest of the country.
Russia launched the Islamic banking system in four major Muslim-dominated regions – Chechnya, Dagestan, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan – as part of a two-year pilot program on September 1.  Saudi Arabia returned to the debt markets on Monday for the second time this year, offering dollar Islamic bonds with tenors of six and 10 years, a bank document showed on Monday.
Initial guidance for the six-year sukuk was around 110 basis points over US Treasuries and around 135 bps over UST for the 10-year, the document on the sale showed. Citi, JPMorgan and Standard Chartered are global coordinators. Aljazira Capital, BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs are also on the deal.  The global Islamic finance industry is expected to grow by around 10 per cent in 2023-2024 despite the economic slowdown, after posting a similar expansion in 2022 mainly led by the GCC countries, according to S&P Global Ratings.
The sector continued to expand in 2022, with assets up by 9.4 per cent compared with 12.2 per cent in 2021, supported by growth in banking assets and the sukuk industry, S&P said in a report on Monday. GCC countries, mainly Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, spurred 92 per cent of the growth in Islamic banking assets last year.  Islamic banking and finance is now touching the $3 trillion mark globally and has crossed Rs7tr in asset size in Pakistan by December 2023. Women entrepreneurs, who are playing a significant role in the economic development of many countries, can largely benefit from Islamic finance, which offers financing and investment opportunities that are Shariah-compliant.
Pakistan, like many other countries, has seen a rise in the number of women entrepreneurs in recent years. However, women entrepreneurs in Pakistan face a range of challenges, including limited access to finance, observing cultural values and family requirements, and a lack of knowledge about business management and banking.  Global sukuk issuance faces short-term uncertainties amid continued macro volatilities, Fitch Ratings says. However, the pipeline for 2Q23 issuance is building up. OPEC+ members’ oil production cut – by almost 1.2 million barrels per day from May until end-2023 – should support short-term oil prices (2023F oil price: USD85/barrel). High oil prices will reduce new financing needs for many core oil-exporting sovereigns. However, funding diversification is sought. Malaysia, Bahrain, and a number of core oil-importing countries still have funding needs and are expected to have budget deficits in 2023
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