Feb 02 , 2016
News
Mamnoon urges Islamic banks to reach out to the poor
APPISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain on Monday said the real objective of Islamic banking was to ensure social justice and alleviate poverty. He urged the banking sector to reach out to the poor to maximize the benefits of Islamic banking.
The president expressed his satisfaction with the growing popularity of Islamic banking in Pakistan and said it was the responsibility of the Pakistani banks to become role models for the world by devising a system of judicious distribution of wealth.
Addressing a conference on “Potential of Islamic banking,” the president stressed the need for improvement in the system of Islamic banking to ensure its trickledown effect on the people at the grassroots level.
This was the third roundtable on Islamic banking organised by the Pakistan Observer Group. Heads of leading banks and corporate leaders were present.
Hussain praised the State Bank of Pakistan for setting up a committee to assess the impact of Islamic banking on the masses. He urged the Islamic banks to conform to the real spirit of Islamic banking and provide capital to customers on the basis of Musharaka and Mudaraba mode of financing.
The president called upon the Islamic banks to implement the same system while dealing with the sectors such as commerce, trade, agriculture, imports and exports and micro finance. He cited Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah as saying at the inauguration of the State Bank of Pakistan that the economic system of the West would not prove beneficial for the development and prosperity of the people of Pakistan. Rather, he quoted Jinnah as saying, an economic system based on the universal teachings of Islam should be developed.
The president said, being a Muslim, a Pakistani and a follower of the Quaid-e-Azam, he was greatly interested in Islamic banking and had a keen eye on the progress and the research related to this sector. He expressed his satisfaction that the government of Pakistan was moving in the right direction in terms of Islamic banking and the concerned ministry and departments were diligently working towards this end.
The president said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would be a mega development project for the country’s prosperity. He said that banks should improve their efficiency and functioning to meet the needs of this project. He said that corruption had badly affected the society.
Saeed Ahmed, deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, said the Islamic banking system should comply with the Islamic tenets, which warned against concentration of wealth in a few hands.
Former State Bank governor Dr Ishrat Hussain said that two important features of Islamic banking that lent credibility to the stability requirements were financing backed by real assets and no fixed, predetermined rate of interest. He said that desired results could only be achieved if the low-income and downtrodden people benefit from Islamic banking.
Meezan Bank President Irfan Siddiqui said his bank was the pioneer of Islamic banking in Pakistan and added that Islamic mode of financing was receiving immense response.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk