Q: What has the rate of adoption of Islamic finance been like in Malaysia? What are the expectations of consumers?
A: The rate of adoption in Malaysia can be assessed at two levels. First, there are the banks, the regulators and the government. And second, there is the customer level. Out of 27 commercial banks in Malaysia, 16 are Islamic banks and five of them are internationally owned. The first Islamic bank was established in 1983, but for the first 10 years, the uptake was slow. But when we realised that Malaysia could put itself on the map as a global centre for Islamic finance, we sprinted forward and established the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre backed by the central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
