June 16, 2006	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1427

KARACHI, June 15: Malaysia and Pakistan will make joint effort to promote Islamic banking and develop research for education and training in this field.

The State Bank and the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF), Malaysia, are striving to build strategic partnership for the development of Islamic finance in Pakistan.

Dr Sudin Haron, deputy chief executive of the INCEIF, held a meeting with Pervez Said, director, Islamic Banking Department, SBP, here and presented him a draft MoU.

The MoU seeks to provide a framework of cooperation to promote and undertake research, development, training and education in Islamic finance.

Dr Haron, who is a renowned academician in Islamic banking and finance, apprised Mr Pervez of the standards being observed in the INCEIF at various levels, including its faculty which comprises Islamic financial services industry experts as well as renowned international and local scholars in the area of Shariah and finance.

He stressed upon the need for establishing strategic alliance with leading higher learning institutions of Pakistan in overcoming the problem of lack of adequately qualified human capital in Islamic finance.

Mr Pervez said that Islamic banking in Pakistan was growing at a rapid pace, attracting both local and international investors. The industry has now gained a market share of over 2.2pc, which was just 0.5pc in 2003.

The INCEIF was established in December 2005 by Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank of Malaysia, to nurture professionals and expertise in Islamic finance to meet human capital needs of a rapidly expanding industry. The main objective of the centre is to promote educational excellence in Islamic finance for the domestic and international Islamic finance community.