2015 Starts With A Bang For Islamic Finance Industry

2015 has started with a bang for Islamic Finance industry.　Islamic financial products are catching on fast outside the Muslim world. New Muslim countries such as Jordan are announcing their ambitious plans to debut sovereign Sukuk this year.  Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank opened a new office in Jakarta. Private institutions are also flexing their muscles to make big splashes in the industry during this year.

This upward trend in the Islamic financial assets is expected to grow even further in the coming months and well beyond this year.  Islamic financial products such as Sukuk are rapidly appealing not only to Muslim customers but also to all type of investors as a pure value proposition.

However, all this fanfare begs us a question of whether we are developing sufficient human capital to handle all these ensuing activities the new year is unfolding?

New educational institutions are springing up in all parts of the world to help promote the awareness of  the Islamic finance industry.  Even in Japan where the local Muslim population is only very tiny, the first-ever institution was established in 2014 to help develop necessary human intellectual capital in Islamic finance.