Ceylinco, INCEIF partner to train Islamic finance professionals

Hathoon Sheriffdeen

TIE-UP: The demand for professionals in the Islamic Finance sector is very high. In Sri Lanka the resources within the country are scarce. Its is the duty for any country to develop the human resources within the country level.

To fulfill this need the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) and Ceylinco Sussex Business School signed an agreement to cater and generate professionals in Islamic finance in Sri Lanka with a degree programme recognised worldwide.

Ceylinco Consolidated is now involved in Islamic finance business in Sri Lanka. Now Ceylinco has established Ceylinco profit sharing for investors of Islamic finance, Ceylinco Takaful for the insurance and to generate professionals in Islamic finance Ceylinco Sussex Business School.

"All the people in the country are used to conventional banking and expect interest as a return for their investment. We wanted to change this attitude and make them an investor who is brave enough to bear the risk.

We will re-invest them in different businesses which are acceptable by Shariya and we can make profit and share them with our customers. This will improve the economy as well as individuals," Deputy Chairman Ceylinco Educational and Financial Services Group K.A.S. Jayatissa said.

"Recently Central Bank has amended the commercial Banking Act that they have included Islamic Financial Laws as one of the Laws of Banking. I hope Central Bank will take steps to govern the Islamic Financial Institutions where this principle will help the country to grab finance to our country in different ways," K.A.S. Jayatissa said.

"The capital market has been growing rapidly and providing that high end sophisticated Islamic financial products to meet the varying needs of financial businesses and investors community.

At present, Islamic mutual funds are estimated to be more than US $ 300 billion while insurance of Islamic sovereigns and corporate bonds or sukuks have reached about US $ 50 billion. The Dow Jones Islamic Index has a market capitalisation exceeding US $ 10 trillion.