Norhashimah Mohd.Yasin∗
Introduction
Malaysia is the forerunner in Islamic banking. The world is looking to
this country and trying to learn from its experience in developing modern and
sophisticated instruments which are said to be Shari[ah compliant. This is the
first country in the world to introduce and promote an Islamic inter-bank
money market to link all the market players and promote short-term liquidity.
The main contributing factor leading to its success is the undeniable support
of the Government. To further spur its growth, Bank Negara Malaysia
(BNM) in 2001 introduced the Financial Sector Master Plan (FSMP), which
includes the aim of a 20 percent market share for Islamic Banking and
Takaful vis-à-vis conventional by 2010.
In Malaysia currently there are two Islamic banks, Bank Islam Malaysia
Berhad (BIMB), which commenced operation in July 1983 and Bank
Muamalat Malaysia Berhad (BMMB) in 1999, a relatively new bank as the
result of a merger and takeover exercise.^1 They were established by virtue of
an act of Parliament; the Islamic Banking Act 1983 (IBA), which is
considered as the beginning of the effort to assimilate Islam into the
Malaysian economic system. Thereafter, more statutes were enacted to
∗ Advocate & Solicitor - High Court of Malaya, Ph.D (Warwick), LLM (Warwick),
MCL (IIUM), LLB (Hons) (IIUM), Postgraduate Diploma, Islamic Banking &
Finance (IIUM). External Adviser (Islamic Banking & Financial Services), Azmi &
Associates. Also, Associate Professor, Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws (AIKOL),
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). E-mail: [email protected]