'Islamic banking growing fast in Pakistan'

Islamic system of banking is rapidly growing in Pakistan with annualised growth rate of one percent. That is the highest growth rate of this industry in the world. "The market share of Islamic banking in Pakistan has gone up to 7 percent and, with the current annualised growth rate, it is expected to achieve 15 percent market share in the next five year", Pervez Said, President and CEO of Burj Bank, said at a seminar on 'Riba-Free Economy and Interest-Free Banking", at Karachi Press Club on Saturday.
He said that the annualised growth rate of Islamic banking is half percent in Malaysia. "In Malaysia, the Islamic banking started some 25 years ago, where its market share has increased to 12 percent", he added. He said that Islamic banking started in Bahrain some 30 years ago, and its market share is now 8 percent.
"As compared with these countries, the growth of Islamic banking in Pakistan is much higher", he said, adding that there is huge potential and it is expected the Islamic banking would grow rapidly in the years to come. He said that there are full-fledged Islamic banks and Islamic banking windows of conventional banks, offering Islamic banking in almost all major cities across the country.
He pointed out that Islamic banking has been started in many countries across the globe. Shamsuddin Khalid Ansari, Advocate, appreciated the knowledge shared and the efforts of Burj Bank in spreading Islamic finance throughout Pakistan. The Burj Bank plans to continue its aggressive awareness drive on Islamic banking system in the years to come. Group Head of Consumer Banking, Burj Bank Taimur Afzal, Group Head Treasury & FI Burj Bank Ayaz Wassay, Head of Operations Burj Bank Saadullah Khan, senior lawyers and personalities from Islamic banking industry attended the seminar.