Strengthen global rules on Islamic finance

A STRONGER framework governing global Islamic finance is needed to track if funds are being invested according to syariah principles.

"That is why we are pushing for stronger overall consistent governing framework for global Islamic finance," CIMB Group Chief Executive Datuk Seri Nazir Razak yesterday said.

While the future of Islamic finance is positive, he said, there is still room for further improvement especially in terms of rules and regulations on the global front.

Malaysia has been successful in the sector and have clear rules and regulations on the matter, he said.

"When you deposit money with CIMB Islamic, there are very clear rules and regulations about how CIMB Islamic must use that money," he said at a dialogue session to mark the grand finale of the Malaysia Future Leadership Programme 2008/2009 Business Challenge here yesterday.

At the global level, however, when somebody deposits their money in a bank which says its product is syariah-compliant, there is really nobody governing what the bank does with the money, the CIMB executive said.

Nobody will know where or on what the money is being invested, Nazir said.

The Malaysia Future Leadership Programme 2008/2009 Business Challenge was jointly organised by CIMB Group and Wall Street Journal Asia.

Bernama