Reflections on One Decade Operations of Islamic Banking in
Pakistan
Salman Ahmed Shaikh
Islamic banking in Pakistan roughly
started one decade ago and now there are 5 full-fledged Islamic banks in
Pakistan and more than 15 conventional banks that have Islamic banking
branches.
The industry has grown by more than 10
percent consistently during the last five years and despite the economic slump
after 2007 in economy, the growth in Islamic banking had remained consistent
and even gained more steam at least in Pakistan and that has been roughly the
case elsewhere too.
However, any meaningful assessment and reflection on the performance of Islamic
banking must take into account much more than the growth, market share, size of
balance sheet and profits.
Islamic financial institutions built their reputation and gained acceptance
from masses having promised socio-economic benefits of an egalitarian financial
system based on Islamic principles. Hence, this merits a careful analysis of
performance on these and similar parameters.