Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), There is no doubt of the potential for Islamic finance in Russia and the CIS countries, but the major stumbling block is the absence of enabling legislation and a regulatory framework to facilitate Islamic financial products such as Murabaha, Ijara and sukuk.
These sentiments could not have been articulated better at the Moscow Forum on Islamic Finance and Investments, which was held in the Russian capital last Thursday and attended by a host of local and international participants, including Ali Hassan Jaafar, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Russia, Arab News wrote.
While the Central Bank of Russia largely remains disinterested in taking the initiative in facilitating Islamic finance in the country, behind the scenes there are some encouraging developments that could speed up the introduction of Shariah-compliant products there.
Given the federal system in Russia, there are ways of bypassing the Central Bank of Russia’s inertia. For instance, the government of the Russian autonomous Republic of Tatarstan, which is Muslim dominated, has got presidential blessing to open up to the sector.
In fact, the Islamic Development Bank recently confirmed a $1 million equity stake in the Islamic Investment Company of Tatarstan (IICT), a joint venture established with two government entities.
Tatarstan is hosting a major Islamic finance investment symposium in Kazan in two weeks time.
Other Muslim republics in Russia such as Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetya and others could equally follow the same route, subject to instilling greater awareness and market education regarding Islamic finance.
Another potentially important development is the establishing of a taskforce on alternative financial institutions and products by the influential Association of Regional Banks of Russia.
Alexei G. Kovalenko, head of the taskforce, said, “We have approached three of the big four advisory firms to help in this respect and we will choose which route to go once we have their initial input. This process could take the next few weeks, I believe.”
Kovalenko, a former banker and insurance executive, has some experience in Islamic finance, having established the first Takaful company in New Zealand a few years ago.
Major Russian banks such as VTB (Vneshtorgbank) and Gazprombank also confirm that they are working on Islamic financial products albeit originated outside Russia.
Stanislav Yankovets, managing director, strategic development, Middle East and North Africa, confirmed to Arab News that VTB Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of VTB, has resumed work on issuing a sukuk through its Dubai entity VTB Capital Dubai.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment