Human capital development in Islamic finance: initiaves and challenges

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to trace the pattern of human capital training and certification in the growing Islamic finance industry in order to abstract potential future issues and challenges that will influence the current initiative in this regard, particularly in Malaysia. It is hoped that the observations in this chapter can be equally useful and pertinent for strategies to develop future human capital for effective management of Islamic financial institutions across other countries. Islamic finance is now found in 76 countries, but systematic programme of training for the industry has just begun, it appears. It had taken three decades since the 1980s to develop industry standards in accounting, governance and financial rules. The industry itself has developed only since the first Islamic bank opened for business in 1963: today there are close to 350 Islamic banks and a further 150 non-bank financial entities in insurance and investments.