Institute for Islamic Banking and Finance

• 1.1: Startseite
• 1.2: Unternehmen
  • 1.2.1: IFIBAF
  • 1.2.2: Philosophie
  • 1.2.3: Biographie
  • 1.2.4: Standorte
  • 1.2.5: Newsletter
• 1.3: Kompetenzen
  • 1.3.1: Beratung
  • 1.3.2: Zertifizierung
  • 1.3.3: Marktanalyse
  • 1.3.4: Produkt entwicklung
  • 1.3.5: Training
• 1.4: Islamic Banking
  • 1.4.1: Trends
  • 1.4.2: Prinzipien
  • 1.4.3: Presse
    • 1.4.3.1: News
      • 1.4.3.1.1: 2008
      • 1.4.3.1.5: 2009
    • 1.4.3.2: Publikationen
  • 1.4.4: Links
  • 1.4.15: Download
• 1.5: Events
• 1.6: Hadithe
• 1.7: Kontakt

Looking at the growing interest worldwide for Islamic Finance one could indeed ask when the Dutch market should open its doors for such a new field in term of Islamic financial management.

Since, by experience, we are by human nature reluctant in embracing everything that is new we can always argue that it will be only a matter of time before the Dutch financial institutions will start to fully take advantage of Islamic Finance opportunities. However we have to look to the developments concerning this Islamic Finance field outside the Netherlands to really understand how great the gap is with other European countries like the UK in term of practising and France in term of law adaptations that were approved this year to remove legal obstacles facing IF activities.

Looking at the similarities with those two economies one could assume that the Dutch financial market could interfere with Asian markets with Indonesia and even its neighbour and The Islamic Finance market Malaysia ( with almost 25% the largest Islamic Finance industry) , like the others did and are doing with there ex-colonies.

In this spirit Mr. Davide Barzilai a London based Norton Rose partner was trying to bring the world of Islamic Finance to Amsterdam during a seminar together with his Dutch partners. Following his presentation one can conclude that it is a matter of education and confidence from both sides to a better mutual understanding. Conventional financial institutions have to make clear what their expectations of Islamic Finance are, better understand what Islamic Finance industry are looking for, what really and how large Islamic Finance is and off course whether it is crisis proof or not.

At the other side, the Islamic Finance potential issuers have to be more proactive and urgent in removing many misconceptions like the lack of standardisation, bureaucracy..etc..and bringing more transparency about the Islamic legal supervisory body in term of ‘Who is Who?’ also to ban misconception about which line to follow.

With all this mentioned we don’t have to be pessimistic about the opportunities for Islamic Finance in the Dutch-market. The Netherlands have yet to realise their full potential especially in the retail branch beginning with the mortgage product. One additional advantage is that the Dutch government itself does recognise the potential of the Islamic Finance branch and that there is a significant demand for Islamic Finance products by Dutch Muslims. Even expertise is there among many Dutch lawyers and financials who already are active abroad. The main obstacle remains the Dutch regulatory framework especially on the taxation field but with the right promotion of Islamic Finance here the political barriers, without neglecting it, should be less visible.

Netherlands Bulletin Mai´09 by Hassan Houda - IFIBAF BeNeLux