BlueMount Capital in the news: “Brave new world: Islamic finance in BD“

International IFN Roadshow Bangladesh-2021 was held recently organised by REDMoney Group. The IFN Roadshow-2021 series opens with Bangladesh, a country that has a promising future in Islamic finance, especially as it launched its first corporate Sukuk in 2020. Bangladesh is on a sprint to aggressive development as the public demand for Islamic finance is rising, which has spurred the robust Islamic banking sector in the nation.

Moody’s Investors Service forecasts a growth of more than 25 per cent in Islamic banking penetration in the country, backed by strong government support due to the high demand. Besides, Bangladesh is looking forward to greater conversion to Islamic banking, as access to finance due to digitalisation comes into play. Overall, the future looks bright for Bangladesh as the government looks toward an enhancement of liquidity management through more regulatory frameworks and the establishment of an independent Shariah committee. This can be seen as a platform to enable a conducive ecosystem for more Sukuk issuances and further developments in the country. There is also a stronger emphasis on the advocacy of Islamic finance literacy among the public to further catalyze growth opportunities of other sectors such as the Halal industry and much more. REDmoney group, Malaysia arranged this influential international roadshow the second time for Bangladesh on a virtual platform. The theme of the Roadshow was “Brave new world: Islamic finance in Bangladesh”.

Nazrul Islam, deputy general manager of Bangladesh Bank, presented the keynote paper and Tengfu Li, analyst, Financial Institutions Group, Moody’s Investors Services, gave a presentation on overall Islamic finance and banking in Asia. Saliba Sassine, managing director, Bluemount Capital, Scott Levy CEO, Bedford Row Capital, Ikbal Daredia, adviser to CEO, Acting Director – Global Markets and Fixed Income (GMFI) and Acting Director – Treasury, The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), Professor Dr M Kabir Hassan, Professor of Finance, Department of Economics and Finance, University of New Orleans and Dr Natalie Schoon, Consultant, Formabb were the panellists in this event. Md. Touhidul Alam Khan, FCMA (writer of this column), additional managing director of Standard Bank Limited, moderated the event.

For the full article, please visit https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/views/brave-new-world-islamic-finance-in-bd-1628272982