Islamic Finance Education Centre welcomed by Middle Eastern Bank

'This will boost Malaysia's attractiveness as an Islamic finance hub,' said Raja Teh Maimunah, senior director of Bahrain's Unicorn Investment Bank which has tied up with Oman's BankMuscat for a proposed stake in Bank Islam.

'As one of the fastest growing segments of banking, Islamic banking will require an entire new skill set and properly trained personnel. It is especially important when more international Islamic banking groups move into Malaysia and in turn, Malaysian banks go abroad.

'This could also roll off a new industry for Malaysia in training Islamic bankers,' she said.

'We applaud the Malaysian government for its foresight.

'As a consortium from the Middle East setting up operations here, it is highly encouraging to see the country investing in manpower training and possibly other banking infrastructure facilities to encourage greater technology usage.

'Coupled with Malaysia's excellent telecommunications infrastructure, we are confident that the country is off to a good start as more Islamic finance services and products for consumers, for example internet and short messaging system banking, can tap into this backbone,' she added.

The International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance will be opened by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Malaysia has invited Middle Eastern banks to establish their presence here, to tap into the huge outflow of the Arab nations' funds from the U.S., which is estimated to be US$1.3 trillion.

The Unicorn-BankMuscat consortium recently reported record profits separately.

Unicorn, associated with one of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's premier business groups, recorded a net profit of US$24 million for the financial year ended December 31, 2005 in its second year of operations and first full financial year.

BankMuscat, whose substantial shareholder is the Royal Court Affairs of Oman, achieved a net profit of US$118 million for the year ended 31 December 2005, against a net profit of US$88.6 million for the year ended 31 December 2004, an increase of 33.1 per cent.

BankMuscat is the first bank from the Gulf region and the first Omani institution to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. Comprising eight other banks and a network of 90 branches in Oman and a representative office in Dubai, BankMuscat has the second largest market capitalization on the Muscat Securities Market.

Islamic finance is practised in over 60 countries across the world.

The assets of Islamic banks and Islamic assets of window-based conventional banks are estimated to be worth over US$400 billion while Islamic mutual funds exceed US$300 billion

Today, there are 266 Islamic financial institutions in the world with a capitalization in excess of US$262 billion and financial investments of more than US$400 billion in many projects in the Arab states as well in Britain, France, and the United States.