Issuers and investors have begun to explore these opportunities in a serious way. While obviously the greatest upsurge of interest in Islamic finance has been within Muslim majority countries, and within those non-Muslim countries with significant Muslim populations (such as the UK), there is still plenty of scope for you here in Japan to consider the potential of Islamic finance.
This is what makes this Symposium so significant. Let me begin with briefly outlining the main principles of Islamic finance and its potential relevance to Japanese financial institutions. I will then turn to give some background on Bahrain’s role in developing Islamic finance and on the part played by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) in particular.