KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian financial services firms have an excellent opportunity to play a role in the growth of Islamic finance in the Gulf region, said an official at the Central Bank of Bahrain.
Mohammed Ayman Al Tajer, director of financial institutions supervision directorate, said vast opportunities in the Gulf are helped by strong economic growth and demand for more sophisticated financial services.
“There are also opportunities in areas such as insurance and fund management as the financial sector in the Gulf continues to diversify,” he said.
There are 23 Islamic banks with assets under management of about US$24.6 billion (RM82.9 billion) as at July last year, as well as seven Islamic insurance companies (takaful and retakaful) operating in Bahrain.
The country has 41 locally-domiciled syariah-compliant funds.
Mohammed Ayman added that the Islamic finance industry continues to perform strongly following robust economic growth, introduction of new products and services as well as acceptance by non-Muslim nations and financial centres.
He said standardisation remains the key challenge in the industry, as well as lack of trained professionals and scholars and awareness of Islamic finance. Bernama