Malaysian Islamic Finance Players Must Innovate, Expand Leadership - BNM Deputy Governor

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Islamic finance industry players must innovate and expand their lead to ensure the industry's activities and dynamism do not move to somewhere else. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM or Malaysia's Central Bank) Deputy Governor, Muhammad Ibrahim, said the industry players should begin by throwing away disruptive habits of amplifying differences and staying away from being too rigid and too narrow-minded. "Instead, more focus should be directed to the commonalities and the need for our minds to remain open and expansive. "We ought to stop our damaging behaviour on amplifying differences that leads to disunity and instead focus on the common good that brings us together," he said. Speaking at the 10th Anniversary Dinner at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)'s Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance recently, he said the Islamic civilisation had only grown when conventional and mainstream thinking were challenged and the propositions of fresh ideas that were built upon research, science and logic were propounded. The text of his speech was made available to Bernama here, Monday. Muhammad said Islamic finance had grabbed the attention of many, including multinational financial institutions in London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong. "The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have allocated resources in the understanding and conducting of surveillance in the growth and application of Islamic finance," he said. He said the centre of gravity for what has always been Malaysia's claim to fame would drift away from if industry players do not innovate. "What has brought us this far would not guarantee success in the future," Muhammad said. --BERNAMA