Head of Exchanges, Dr. Zaha Rina Zahari said, "There is clearly strong and growing interest and demand for Syariah compliant instruments.
"Estimates indicate between USD800 billion (RM 3 trillion) to USD 1.3 trillion (RM4.94 trillion) funds from Islamic countries are invested in conventional markets."
Dr. Zaha Rina was giving a keynote address at the Seminar on Islamic Banking & Financial Services for Practitioners organised by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
In her keynote address, Dr. Zaha Rina also said in Malaysia, the Islamic Capital Market has effectively functioned as an alternative market for capital seekers and providers whilst playing an important complementary role to Islamic Banking.
"The market size that the Malaysian Islamic Capital Market could contemplate is immense.
"Internationally, the Islamic Financial Market is estimated to be USD230 billion in size - growing annually at 12 -15%. What is more interesting is that latent Islamic capital invested in global financial institutions is estimated at USD 1.3 trillion. There are more than 105 Islamic Equity funds globally managing assets in excess of USD3.5 billion," she said.
Commenting on Islamic Private Debt Securities, Dr Zaha Rina said more than 50% of all Malaysian domestic bonds are now Syariah compliant.
Malaysia issued the world's first sovereign Islamic Bonds in June 2002 - which is regarded as a benchmark by issue positively received by the international investing community. The Labuan International Financial Exchange (LFX) has been active in this area, with a key accomplishment including the listing of the USD600 million (RM2.3 billion) Syariah-compliant Sukuk on LFX and Luxembourg which were oversubscribed twice.
Dr. Zaha Rina said it is important to recognise that a dynamic and growing Islamic financial system has to offer the capability to provide effective intermediation in contributing to the growth of economies, including in facilitating trade and investments.
"Further to this, Islamic financing has to offer viable options to build a strong base in institutional participation.
"Additionally, Islamic financing has to be committed in building facilitative delivery systems and market infrastructure to meet the objectives and requirements of participants and investors," she said.
