While the issues would not be exhaustion but I will attempt to give a different dimension on the matters raised. Development of Islamic finance Islamic finance is now the fastest growing segment in the global financial industry. Notwithstanding the global financial crisis, Islamic finance has shown strong growth. The size of assets under management may very well exceeded USD1 trillion. Islamic finance has maintained an average growth rate of 15–20% per annum. New areas of business continue to show encouraging progress. Islamic Mutual Funds is growing at average of 23% per annum. The Takaful industry is growing at 13% per annum. Islamic finance has attracted a lot of attention. It is no more peripheral to the conventional banking system but has grown from being a novelty to be a viable and attractive alternative to the conventional banking system. Giant banking and insurance groups are now very much interested in Islamic finance as a way to growth their business. Five years from now, the data that I am showing you could very well change in terms of numbers and structures. Interest in Islamic finance is no longer limited to Muslim nations and Muslim communities. The world realizes the economic clout of 1.5 billion people is a market that cannot be ignored. The Islamic finance market offers an enormous potential for future growth. Long established financial centers such as London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore have already begun the first steps to enhance their respective centers into vibrant Islamic financial centers.
Muhammad bin Ibrahim: Contemporary issues in Islamic finance and equity-based financing Keynote address by Mr Muhammad bin Ibrahim, Assistant Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the Conference on Contemporary Issues in Islamic Home, Personal and Auto Financing, jointly organised by the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIiBF), the Bar Council Syariah Law Committee (SLC) and the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP), Kuala Lumpur, 2 April 2010. *  *  *  Thank you for inviting me to this seminar and for giving me the opportunity to speak on contemporary issues in Islamic finance. I shall attempt to touch on some issues that, to my mind is important. I will also touch on the subject of equity-based financing, a topic that has attracted a lot of discussion lately. But I must remind you that I’m not a scholar, nor am I an expert on Islamic finance. What I will offer is my experience in dealing with the promotion and development of Islamic finance in Malaysia over the last 10 years and the general experience of over 25 years with the conventional financial system. Therefore, my focus and emphasis would be purely from a practitioner point of view, experience that comes from the need for pragmatism in translating shariah principles and rulings into public policy, development initiatives and formulation of framework on regulation and supervision for the Islamic finance industry. I would try to provoke some questions on some issues that have attracted attention lately.