‘Sukuk can promote financial inclusion’
KUALA LUMPUR: Sukuk can be instrumental in helping the society at large and is in line with promoting the idea of financial inclusion, said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah.
He said it should be promoted as a financial instrument not only to facilitate corporations’ fundraising exercise for commercial reasons, but also charitable causes.
“Firms need to address sustainability issues to accentuate the shared clarity purpose. Emphasising ‘purpose’ rather than profit alone generates business confidence, drives investments and creates longterm success,” he said at the Second International Kuala Lumpur Sukuk Conference, here, yesterday.
The 1½-day conference was themed “The Future of Sukuk Embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution”.
Amiruddin said with the ever-changing landscape, one must keep pace with the latest trends in sukuk issuance, especially with regards to sustainable and socially responsible investments.
He highlighted the use of block chain technology, which has brought to the world a more transparent system.
“On top of the security feature, which is safe from hacking and manipulation, block chain technology serves to eliminate certain bad practices in the market, since it is based on open distributed ledgers,” he said.
He said as with everything new, the world needed to see and appreciate the function of role models, citing the World Bank’s recently launched bond-i, a block chain-operated new debt instrument.
The two-year bond, which raised A$110 million (RM331.58 million), marked the first time globally that investors supported a bond that was created, allocated, transferred and managed throughout its life cycle using distributed ledger technology.