IslamicFinance.de

Saudia Arabia’s Al Khozoma Management Company is conducting a feasibility study to develop a Sharia-compliant resort in the Maldives. Some 4,120 holidaymakers from the Middle East visited the Maldives this year, representing a market share of 3.7 percent. In January 2014, the ADK company in association with Turkish hotel giant Caprice Gold announced plans to build the first Islamic resort in the Maldives. The five-star, 673-room resort was to be built on Shaviyani Atoll Gaakoshibee. However, the two companies reportedly cancelled the agreement late last year.

The scope and potential of Islamic finance, insurance, and banking in the Maldives is yet to be fully explored, suggests Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Governor Dr Azeema Adam. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the first ‘Maldives Islamic Banking and Finance Industry Conference’, Dr Azeema said Islamic finance provides a springboard to generate innovative ideas to cater to the financing needs of the domestic economy. Islamic banking and capital market services were introduced in the Maldives in 2011, with the opening of the Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB). However, providing banking services to all inhabited islands might not always be profitable Azeema continued, requiring innovation within the Maldivian financial sector.