Alhamdulillah during the blessed month of Ramadan I was honoured to travel to Bishkek the capital of Kyrgyzstan to deliver a couple of Islamic finance training sessions, specifically to local Shariah Scholars and other stakeholders, representing the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF).
The classes were lively, with lots of questions from the participants, who were eager to learn more about applied Shariah in Islamic finance, Shariah Governance frameworks and market practices from other advanced Islamic finance jurisdictions.
Kyrgyzstan is an emerging market for Islamic finance with a lot of interest to learn on the ground. Many conventional banks have set up Islamic windows amidst growing demand from the local population for Shariah compliant products and services. Other sectors such as microfinance, Takaful etc. also have the potential for growth. Like any other country with a nascent Islamic finance industry, there are existing challenges that regulators, practitioners, Shariah Scholars and other stakeholders are working on addressing together inshaAllah.
Although I wasn’t there for long, I had a great experience in Kyrgyzstan. The people were warm and very hospitable. It was facinating to learn about their rich history, culture and cuisine together with my old friend Dr. Rizwan Malik.
Alhamdulillah, grateful for the opportunity.
