Will Maldives develop offshore Islamic finance sector from growth in local services?
The archipelago seeks to become a Islamic finance hub for South Asia, but needs more legislation and the country’s half a million Muslims to adopt Islamic banking.
The Indian Ocean archipelago Maldives is developing an Islamic finance sector, although it may need to strengthen legislation and local turnover to attract sufficient international players to develop an offshore hub.
In 2016 the government established the state-owned Maldives Centre for Islamic Finance Ltd (MCIF) charged with developing the country’s capacity to be a “hub for Islamic finance” primarily in South Asia. The centre conducts research on Islamic finance, provides product structuring and consultancy services and helps float Islamic capital market instruments on the Maldives stock exchange.
Free, in under 30 seconds
Join thousands of professionals reading Salaam Gateway — the Global Islamic Economy Gateway.
Already a member? Sign in
- 5 free articles every month
- Weekly Islamic-economy newsletter
- Save articles to read later
Poorna Rodrigo