SBP’s Reza Baqir appointed chairman of IFSB Council

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Dr Reza Baqir has been appointed as the chairman of the Council of Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), Malaysia for the year 2022.

Baqir’s appointment was approved by the IFSB Council in its 39th meeting held on December 9, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), SBP said in a statement on Friday.

He had been serving earlier as the deputy chairman of the IFSB Council for the year 2021.

Reza Baqir appointed IFSB chairman

Baqir will also be serving as the chairman of the IFSB General Assembly for the year 2022. The general assembly is the representative body of all the members of the IFSB, namely full members, associate members and observer members.

Speaking on the occasion, the SBP governor said that he felt deeply honored to assume the chairmanship of the council of IFSB. Baqir said that with the support of his fellow council members, he aspires to help IFSB realize its mandate.

He also pledged to transform IFSB into one of the most progressive and robust standard-setting body globally.

IFSB Council is the senior executive and policymaking body of the IFSB. It consists of one representative each from full member of the IFSB. Currently, there are 187 members of the IFSB, which comprise 81 regulatory and supervisory authorities, 10 international inter-governmental organizations, and 96 market players (financial institutions, professional firms, industry associations and stock exchanges) operating in 57 jurisdictions.

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According to IFSB’s global Islamic financial services stability report 2021, the total worth of the Islamic Financial Services Industry (Islamic Banking, Islamic Capital Markets and Takaful) is estimated at $2.70 trillion in 2020.

In Pakistan, currently, there are five full-fledged islamic banks and 17 conventional banks operating with standalone islamic banking branches.

As of June 2021, the market share of the Islamic Banking Industry (IBI) assets and deposits in the overall banking sector stood at 17% and 18.7%, respectively. The branch network of islamic banking institutions comprises over 3583 branches and 1562 windows.