Business

Thursday September 20, 2012

Mixed views on Europe outlook


KUALA LUMPUR: Experts speaking at the session on “The Future of Islamic Finance in Europe” have mixed views on the outlook of Islamic finance in the European countries in 2020.

Thomson Reuters United States global head of Islamic finance Rushdi Siddiqui, who chaired the session, rated two out of 10 for the current situation of Islamic finance in European countries, saying “at best it would be four (out of 10)” in 2020.

Republic of Ireland department of finance financial services division assistant secretary Neil Ryan rated seven out of 10 for wholesale Islamic banking and one out of 10 for retail Islamic banking.

He said Islamic banking had the money to fund European countries but there were glitches due to political issues for the retail segment.

KPMG Dubai head of Islamic finance Neil Miller said he was opportunistic rather than strategic as there would have been sufficient change in terms of regulations and tax structures at least in the major European countries. He gave five out of 10.

“I would like to see one Islamic finance institution in France and I think we are going to see one in Germany really soon,” he said.

CIMB Principal Islamic Asset Management Malaysia Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Noripah Kamso presented a case study on the company's experience in cross-border distribution of Islamic funds through undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) platform.

Noripah said UCITS was a game of volume due to high operating costs.

She advised companies to have long-term vision and commitment if they wanted to venture into cross-border Islamic funds as margins could be very low.

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