Islamic trade finance has much more potential

The main precondition for Islamic trade finance to increase its presence in Islamic finance is a closer co-operation between banks and businesses. Experts say Islamic trade finance needs to be developed with instruments that allow better control of risks related to trade partners or countries. The Bahrain-based International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) started a cooperation with the Washington-based Bankers Association for Finance and Trade to create an industry standard, a so-called master risk participation agreement. This standard is expected to create transparent market practices and contribute to an increase of the trade finance business on a Shariah-compliant basis. Bank Negara Malaysia is also pushing for Islamic trade financing to support 10% of the country’s total trade up to 2020. The bank is currently consulting initiatives which could include blockchain-based trade finance solutions, e-commerce and providing trade credit takaful to mitigate trade risks.