IslamicFinance.de

Pakistan is considering to launch dollar-denominated bond and Sukuk bond to tap a favorable response from expatriates in order to tackle the looming economic crisis. Finance minister Asad Umar said the coming government will have to take tough decisions in the first six weeks after coming into power. Asad promised to grant independence to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics in order to get reliable official data on various sectors of the economy. He pledged to take action on it in the first 100 days of government. The situation has touched such an alarming position as the current account deficit used to be in the range of $2 billion on per annum basis, which now peaked to $2 billion on monthly basis.

Islamic banks have been urged to adopt a strategy to make effective use of financial technology. At a seminar held recently, Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, director of Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance at IBA, said there has to be a strategy for Islamic finance in the digital world. According to fintech expert Ashar Nazim, Pakistan is doing well in Islamic finance, but the country's finance industry has to adapt to fintech. Market Link Executive Director Ishan Kanji said that using fintech will support the agricultural sector by providing easy access of loans and facilities to farmers. He stressed on the need to tap into the informal economy, which is twice the size of formal economy in Pakistan. At the seminar Hasan Bilgrami, CEO of BankIslami, shared the success story of BankIslami being the first bank in Pakistan to use biometric technology.

Standard Chartered arranges a one-year $35 million Islamic structured trade finance facility for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). This transaction has been arranged and structured solely by the bank. The facility is structured as an Islamic offshore transaction. It uses innovative services Ijara concept-based on purchase and distribution of airline seats.

The new standards of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) cover appointment of Shariah advisers, conflict resolution in Shariah rulings, use of charity fund and introduction of new products, reported The News Pakistan on 26 March.

Currently, total assets of Islamic banking industry in Pakistan had exceeded Rs 200 bn and the branch network of 18 Islamic banking institutions (i.e. six full-fledged Islamic banks and 12 conventional banks having Islamic banking branches) has expanded to 47 cities.

Full text: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=102998