MALAYSIA has emerged tops in the Islamic Finance Development Report 2014 by Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, a unit of Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Development Bank.
According to the report by the bank and Thomson Reuters, Malaysia performed consistently well across all indicators and is number one for knowledge and quantitative development and the first runner-up for governance and awareness.
Malaysia’s Achilles’ heel is corporate social responsibility, where it ranks eighth.
Bahrain, while it may be small, leads in business governance while Oman also did well on its debut.
In the report released yesterday at the Global Islamic Finance Forum, the Gulf Cooperation Council and Southeast Asia continue to show way forward with Malaysia, Bahrain, Oman and United Arab Emirates leading the pack.
This year’s report covers 92 countries on five indicators, which are quantitative development, knowledge, governance, corporate social responsibility and awareness.
The report also reflects the Islamic finance industry in each country across these fundamentals, presenting a more accurate barometer of the industry’s health and development.
Thomson Reuters is an integrated knowledge services provider that assists the Islamic finance industry.