PESHAWAR: Former State Bank of Pakistan governor Ishrat Hussain has said that the Islamic banking system have not facilitated common man in the country during the last 10 years.
Ishrat Hussain, who is also Dean of Institute of Business Administration (IBA Karachi), said this while addressing the opening session of a two-day international conference on “Centre of Excellence in Islamic Finance” project of the State Bank of Pakistan, organised in collaboration with Institute of Management Sciences.
Ishrat Hussain pointed out that reasons for what he called the failure of Islamic banking system, which was introduced in the country 10 years ago, to access common people with schemes that could help to stabilise them financially and ultimately eliminate poverty.
“If the major objective of Islamic finance is to make finances available to all segments of society through inclusive finances and distribute the income from the assets equitably in an effort to reduce poverty, then unfortunately this has not been the case here,” he told the gathering, attended by bankers and scholars from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UK and Pakistan.
He said that they needed professionals, who would combine expertise in both Sharia and finances. To develop this new breed of professionals, the State Bank of Pakistan would set up three centres at three prestigious institutions in the country not only to train but also change the attitudes and mindsets of the students, he added.
Dr Mohammad Mohsin Khan, director IMS, Hayatabad, said that State Bank of Pakistan had chosen IMS in Peshawar, IBA in Karachi and LUMS in Lahore to set up centres of excellence in Islamic finance where new trends and skills would be taught to the students about the Islamic banking.
