Important to ensure transparency of Islamic Finance in the country, says syariah scholar

KUALA LUMPUR - It is important to ensure transparency and visibility of Islamic Finance in the country to appeal to the stakeholders and the public, says eminent syariah scholar Tan Sri Dr Mohd Daud Bakar.

The recipient of The Royal Award for Islamic Finance 2022 said the country has to be more advanced than the technology in order to overcome the challenges in moving forward, noting that Islamic banks were not yet fully digitised.

However, he said the country was moving forward in achieving the potential of Islamic fintech, adding that Malaysian banks have implemented smart technologies into their system.

“We need to be speedy as the speed of the technology, talent development is something we have to look into so we have to improve," he said.

However, he said in the case of finance and banking, the country has not reached the level of cooperation yet.

He said the challenge was to bring down the cost and optimise the resources and push for collaboration and smart networking.

"We have to transform everything to digitalisation. After that, I would imagine in the next few years or so, (we can see) some of the back offices, back end and banks' operations managed by a system that is not tired or biased.

"The system can analyse 24/7 so people can apply for financing and get results at 3am. So, this is the way forward we are looking at on functional perspective," he told reporters after the award conferment ceremony at Shangri-La Hotel, here, today.

Earlier, the Royal Award of Islamic Finance 2022 was bestowed on Mohd Daud Bakar by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in an award presentation ceremony.

The biennial award established in 2010 was jointly organised by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC).

Mohd Daud, an award-winning author who had written more than 40 books of various genres currently served as the Syariah Advisory Council chairman for both BNM and SC

His books had shed light on modern scholars’ interpretation of Syariah rulings and its practical application in the Islamic finance industry.

He is also a syariah board member of international financial institutions and organisations such as Amundi Asset Management (France), Bank of London and the Middle East, Dow Jones Islamic Market Index (New York), Morgan Stanley (Dubai), and Sedco Capital (Saudi Arabia).

He was also instrumental in developing the first syariah standard on gold issued by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI).

Apart from his active involvement globally, Mohd Daud has also established a few shariah advisory services and fintech companies contributing to syariah-related framework and policies, product structuring, human capital development and technology solutions.

He has also published numerous articles in academic journals, some of which were presented at established international conferences.ch.