December 01, 2009

The branch network of Islamic banks in Pakistan expanded to 528 in June 2009 compared with around 326 branches in June 2008.According to the State Bank recent document, over the last few years, the Islamic finance industry is reportedly growing at around 15 percent globally.Considered a niche market-catering to financial needs of the Muslims-few years back, the Islamic finance (IF) has grown into a full-fledged financial market.

Interestingly, the financial solutions provided by Islamic finance both on the asset and liability side are such that can reside on balance sheets of Islamic and conventional banks alike.The public and private sectors and regional and global financial hubs are collaborating effectively to make investments, build partnerships and alliances and promote transfer of capital flow and knowledge sharing.