Australian Official calls for Islamic finance in the country

Canberra, June 13, SPA -- Chris Bowen, the Australian minister for
financial services, superannuation and corporate
Law, and also the minister for human services, has reassured the need
to provide appropriate systems and procedures for the establishment
of banks and financial services in accordance with Murabahah
(Cost-Plus) an Islamic Finance transaction without the imposition of
usury and interest in order to attract capital and investments from
neighboring Asian Islamic countries.

"I think there's a great opportunity such as Islamic finance," he
said. "The majority of the world's Islamic population lives in Asia,
and Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are trying to corner this market for
themselves and I think Australia can play a role. Even if we only
take a small percentage of the market it could generate a lot of
wealth and a lot of jobs in Australia", he said.


--SPA