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Hong Kong Wants To Be Islamic Finance Centre Too |
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Written by Sean Hocking
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A report in Finance Asia.com reveals that the HK Government wants to develop Islamic finance in the territory after the financial secretary, John Tsang, made a statement of intent six months ago.
Finance Asia .com reports that Tax legislation is key to attracting Islamic products and services to Hong Kong, says PricewaterhouseCoopers.
However, PWC tax partners Florence Yip and Jennifer Chang made clear at a forum discussion on April 30, Hong Kong has a long way to go in order to realise an ambition to become a significant hub for Islamic banking and finance.
The report goes on to say....
Globally, there is a strong impetus to expand Islamic financial services to access funds from the Middle East and to meet the demand of a growing Muslim middle class by providing retail and takaful (insurance) as alternatives to conventional riba (interest-based) products and services. Although the move has been driven by key Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) players, different jurisdictions, from Singapore to the Gulf States and from Malaysia to the United Kingdom, are competing for a dominant position. Hong Kong is a late entrant to the burgeoning markets in Asia, far behind Malaysia and even Singapore, but ahead of Indonesia, which, with its vast Muslim population, probably has the greatest potential.
Hong Kong has no specific legislation on Islamic finance, and it must decide whether to enact a legalistic or economic form of legislation to accommodate the special features of Islamic finance and to ensure tax neutrality with conventional financial products.
Full Report |
