"Malaysia The Best Islamic Finance Hub"

KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is the best Islamic finance hub as it offers all the required facilities such as research, training as well as the laws that are in place, said Azman Hashim. Azman, who is a member of the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF), said as far as the advancement of Islamic finance is concerned, the more hubs there are in the world, the better. "This would further promote Islamic finance in the world, against conventional finance," he told a press conference on Monday. Azman, who is also the Pro-Chancellor of Open University Malaysia (OUM), was speaking to reporters after witnessing the signing ceremony of a memorandum of agreement between OUM and Islamic Banking and Finance Institute of Malaysia (IBFIM). OUM President and Vice Chancellor Prof Emeritus Anuwar Ali said the five-year collaboration, amounting to RM5 million (US$1.58 million), entails the development and implementation of the information technology (IT) infrastructure for the first fully computerised Takaful Basic Exam (TBE) for takaful agents. "We will assist IBFIM in the design, development, maintaining the TBE Management System, as well as developing the e-learning materials for the programme," he said. Meanwhile, IBFIM Chief Executive Officer Dr Adnan Alias said as of April this year, 2,544 takaful agents have taken the computerised TBE in 20 OUM examination centres nationwide. "We are catering for a wide market -- there are now 75,000 takaful agents in the country -- and we have also received requests from other countries such as Nigeria, to bring such exams to their shores," he said. -- BERNAMA