Industry Progress and Market Share

The State Bank of Pakistan has formed a comprehensive regulatory framework aimed at the establishment and promotion of an Islamic banking system in line with best international practices. These measures are primarily demand-driven and provide an option to the customers to choose between the two banking systems in accordance with their preference.

As a first step, a three-pronged strategy was laid out for the promotion of Islamic Banking in Pakistan which allows financial institutions, to decide at their discretion, to establish either full-fledged Islamic banks in the private sector; or Islamic Banking subsidiaries or stand alone Islamic Banking branches of the existing commercial banks. This is in sharp contrast to the earlier attempt, when Islamic Banking was required to be implemented by all banks across the board.

As on December 31, 2007 there were six full fledged licensed Islamic banks having 185 branches. In addition, 12 commercial banks are offering Islamic banking services through 103 branches. The increasing interest of conventional banks in opening Islamic branches and applications for opening full-fledged Islamic banks show the promising future prospects for the growth of Islamic banking in Pakistan

Islamic banking services in Pakistan have recorded a noteworthy progress during the quarter under review
Constituting an asset base of Rs. 178 billion and deposits of over Rs. 124 billion at end September, 07 as compared to Rs. 159 billion and Rs. 108 billion respectively at the end of June 07. Although, due to its nascent stage of development, the share of the Islamic Banking industry in the total assets (3.8%) and total deposits (3.6%) of the banking sector remains miniscule, it is expected that this share will grow considerably in the years to come.