According to PricewaterhouseCoopers PWC, the Hong Kong government is keen to develop Islamic finance in the territory after the financial secretary, John Tsang, made a statement of intent six months ago. However, as PWC tax partners Florence Yip and Jennifer Chang made clear at a forum discussion on April 30, Hong Kong has a long way to go in order to realise an ambition to become a significant hub for Islamic banking and finance.
Globally, there is a strong impetus to expand Islamic financial services to access funds from the Middle East and to meet the demand of a growing Muslim middle class by providing retail and takaful insurance as alternatives to conventional...
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