Posted on 05/27/2010 10:10:49 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Kenya is angling herself to reap from the growing appetite for Islamic banking products by countries in East Africa as investors from the Gulf region show a renewed interest in the region.
Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Prof. Njuguna Ndungu said the renewed interest in Shariah compliant banking in the neighbouring countries could greatly benefit the country as it seeks to transform herself into a regional Islamic finance hub in tandem with her ambitious growth plan dubbed the Vision 2030.
“Under this vision, one of the key aspirations for the financial sector is positioning of Nairobi as a regional financial hub by 2030,” Njuguna told a major Islamic banking conference in Nairobi.
The two day conference, dubbed, Second Gulf African Bank Annual East and Central Africa Conference themed “Islamic Finance: The African Experience”, seeks to explore the African Perspective on Islamic finance and finance products and the challenges faced in the African market as well as applicable solutions.
The conference also explored the global scenario, Islamic in-frastructure bonds (sukuks), Risk in Islamic finance, Islamic Insurance (Takaful), Technology, and the role of the Shariah board.
“There is a move by countries in the region to permit their institutions to offer Islamic products and the CBK is sharing its experience in Shariah compliant banking with other Central Banks in the East African Community,” Ndungu said.
Kenya has made great strides in Islamic banking since the licensing of the first two fully fledged shariah compliant banks in 2008.
The two, Gulf Africa Bank (GAB) and First Community Bank currently boast of 1,570 loan accounts and 58,548 deposit accounts and control 0.8 per cent of the banking sector’s net assets after being in operation for less than two years.
These developments have enabled the formerly unbanked Kenyans and specifically the Muslim community in the marginal areas to have access to financial services adding to the wealth creation in the economy.
“This is a solid testimony of the vast potential of Islamic finance in Kenya , which should be tapped, and opportunities explored in the insurance and capital market segments using sharia compliant vehicles,” Ndungu said.
Islamic Finance is so far the fastest growing segment in the global financial industry.
Despite the global financial crisis, Islamic finance has demonstrated strong growth with new areas of business such as mutual funds and Takaful industry attracting a lot of attention. We need to understand this business model that will support our comparative ad-vantage in the E.A.C. region”.
“The world is now looking at Islamic Finance as an alternative to the conventional finance system after the global financial turmoil,” GAB chairman Suleiman Shahbal said.
Kenya pioneered Islamic Banking in East and Central Africa with the licensing of the first two banks to exclusively offer Shariah compliant products, with many other conventional banks establishing a window specifically for Shariah compliant products.
are there any in the united states???/
Not sure, but I’d bet Michigan is lousy with them.
A pox on Kenya.
Microfinance -
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2514423/posts
I just read a speech from the Treasury Dept last week and they’re encouraging microfinance. I personally believe this is why they’re reducing the middleclass into the poor pool. It’s deliberate. The UN and their followers call them Habitats - I call them our internment camps.
They even have microfinance in Kenya. ShoreBank donated a million when Obama visited there last year. There is a ShoreBank International.
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