Addressing a seminar on 'Islamic Banking', held under the auspices of Sialkot Bankers' Club here on Saturday night, he said that the State Bank has also given regulatory framework for Islamic banking which is a hybrid of the system of Malaysia and Bahrain.
A full-fledged Islamic banking department and Shariah Board have been established in the State Bank while manuals for conducting Shariah Audit of Islamic banks are nearing finalisation, he added.
He said that awareness drive has been initiated in order to educate the providers and users of banking services about Islamic finance and remove misconceptions and confusions about the concept of Islamic banking.
Pervez briefed the participants about the status of Islamic banking in the world. He pointed out that Islamic banking is being conducted in over 70 countries of the world and even conventional banks are offering Islamic banking services.
The assets of Islamic banking are estimated $ 50 million in past ten years and now these assets are estimated at $ 250 billion, growing at the rate of 15 to 20 percent per year, he said.
In Pakistan, he observed, people in general feel need for Islamic banking and they want to manage their financial resources in line with their belief.
He emphasised that Islamic banking in the country can only be implemented if all stakeholders play their due roles.
The main stakeholders include Shariah Scholars, Government of Pakistan through the State Bank, financial institution and users who are depositors and business and industrialists community, he said.
He said that with efforts in last three or four decades the Shariah Scholars have played their role by giving various Shariah compliant financial instruments.
The products are available for 85 percent of commercial banking transactions while work is being done to develop products for rest of the services and activities like liquidity management and others, he added.
In addition to Meezan Bank, some banks have started Islamic banking through Islamic banking branches while more are planning to start such operation in near future.
He said that Bank Alfalah has opened two Islamic banking branches at Lahore and one each at Islamabad, Faisalabad and Karachi and it will open ten more branches during the current calendar year.
The Muslim Commercial Bank in Karachi and Bank of Khyber at Peshawar have started Islamic banking. Similarly, Habib Bank and Habib Bank Al Zurich would also start branch operations in a few months, he added.
However, more banks need to join and provide a series of products to users in all cities of the country he was of the opinion.
The Advisor to the Governor State Bank said that the ultimate success of Islamic banking lies with users who have been provided two comparable systems like Islamic banking working in parallel with the conventional banking.
The users are free to choose with system they need and State Bank on its behalf will continue to provide its service to all stakeholders who have to play their role effectively.
He called upon the bankers to accelerate their efforts to create awareness about Islamic banking among the users in order to remove misconceptions and confusions about Islamic banking.
Speaking as chief guest Sialkot District Nazim Naeem Javed stressed the need of educating the masses about the Islamic banking by holding seminars. He lauded the efforts of State Bank for setting up Islamic banking department and Shariah Board.
A large number of bankers, members of business community, journalists and government officers attended the seminar.