Islamabad
\nThe Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Aamir Khan suggests establishment of a high-level Steering Committee tasked with charting an impactful roadmap for the future, encompassing all touchpoints of Islamic finance ecosystem, to promote Islamic finance in the country.
\nHe made this suggestion in his keynote address at World Islamic Finance Forum\u2019s \u201cDevelopment of Islamic Finance Ecosystem for Global Prosperity\u201d conference, organized by Center of Excellence in Islamic Finance (CEIF) on Monday.
\nIt is notable here that a similar committee was formulated in 2013 for promotion of Islamic banking in Pakistan.
\nAamir Khan also recommended a tax incentive for companies whose financing needs are principally met through capital market Islamic instruments.
\n\u201cThis would be a preferred approach than to revive the erstwhile 2% flat incentive,\u201d he said.
\nHe noted that \u2018protection, justice, fairness and societal well-being\u2019 are the key goals of Islamic finance, and SECP has been focused on promotion of Islamic financing with all these goals in sight, said Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in his keynote address at World Islamic Finance Forum\u2019s \u201cDevelopment of Islamic Finance Ecosystem for Global Prosperity\u201d conference, organized by Center of Excellence in Islamic Finance (CEIF) on Tuesday.
\nHe shared some of the milestones achieved by SECP in line of Islamic financing, including the listing of PHL energy Sukuk; launch of the first-ever Shariah compliant ETF; approval of the first-ever Shariah compliant developmental REIT; revamping of Commodity Murabaha platform at PMEX; licensing of 2 Shariah-compliant Housing Finance companies; and disbursement of over 43,000 subsidized loans by one Islamic NBMFC.
\nEmphasizing the role of financial sector regulators in promoting a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the Islamic finance space, he shared the example of SECP\u2019s regulatory sandbox that encourages young entrepreneurs and nascent startups, to come up with creative solutions & products.
\nHe proposed a similar model exclusively for Islamic finance, through collaboration of all relevant regulators.
\nSECP Chairman also said that despite these \u201cisolated successes\u201d, structural gaps still exist in the industry, and warrant a concerted national level thrust to understand and address the complete spectrum of financial needs of the population.
\nHe stressed on harnessing the role capital markets, NBFCs and insurance sectors towards the development and expansion of Islamic financial ecosystem.
\nShedding more light on the structural deficiencies, Khan said that the financial landscape in Pakistan remains bank-centric, while the current policies focused on financial inclusion also remain rather credit-centric.
\nThis means that products and solutions like long-term savings, investments, pension, insurance protection, private equity, etc. are not getting adequate attention.
\nFinally, the implementation of inclusion efforts has also mostly stayed limited to the urban centers, except some microfinance lending activity.
\nSECP Chief also highlighted the need for digitalization in Islamic financial ecosystem to get the system off the ground.
\n\u201cThe recent growth spurts in the digital NBFC lending space, must be replicated for broad-based Shariah-compliant financial inclusion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad The Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Aamir Khan suggests establishment of a high-level Steering Committee tasked with charting an impactful roadmap for the future, encompassing all touchpoints of Islamic finance ecosystem, to promote Islamic finance in the country. He made this suggestion in his keynote address at World Islamic Finance Forum\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-263543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n