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Islamic banking should be expanded, both banks and businesses show interest — ARB

Anatoly Kozlachkov, head of the Association of Russian Banks, added that currently, six banks are involved in the pilot program

KAZAN, May 15. /TASS/. Partnership financing, aka Islamic banking, has seen great interest from government agencies, businesses and banks, so the pilot program should be continued and expanded, Anatoly Kozlachkov, head of the Association of Russian Banks (ARB), said in an interview with TASS as part of the Russia-Islamic World forum.

"The scope of the pilot program needs to be expanded, because there’s a lot of interest both from government agencies and business entities," Kozlachkov said.

He added that currently, six banks are involved in the pilot program.

"Banks understand that this is one of the additional business areas. This does not mean that banks will abandon traditional banking. They will develop Islamic banking, or partnership [financing], as we say, or ethical banking along the way, together with their traditional banking business. There is interest, and we think that the prospects are great. We only need well-trodden paths, and these will be the [development of] standards," the expert noted.

The experiment to develop partner financing is taking place from September 1, 2023 to September 1, 2025 in Russia’s republics of Bashkiria, Tatarstan, Chechnya and Dagestan. A bill has been submitted to the State Duma to extend the pilot program in partnership financing until September 1, 2028.

Islamic banking means conducting banking activities in accordance with Islamic norms. Payment of interest and derivative interest transactions, transactions with conditions of uncertainty, as well as financing of certain sectors of the economy such as gambling, pork production, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, weapons, ammunition are banned. You cannot finance trade in all abovementioned areas. Common Islamic banking operations are installments, leasing, and equity financing.

About the forum

The 16th International Economic Forum "Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum" is underway from May 13 to 18 in Kazan. The main theme of the Forum in 2025 is ‘Digitalization: New Reality and Additional Opportunities for Expanding Cooperation’.

Representatives of more than 100 countries have confirmed their participation in the forum.

TASS is the general information partner of the event.

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