The Centre for Accounting, Banking and Finance (CABF) parked under the Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and Hong Leong Islamic Bank organised a talk titled “Islamic Banking & Finance: What’s in it for me?” on 4 February 2020 at UTAR Kampar Campus. Present at the talk were FBF Dean Dr Au Yong Hui Nee, FBF lecturers and students.

Invited to deliver the talk was IIUM Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance Professor and Hong Leong Islamic Bank Berhad registered Shariah Committee Member Prof Dr Rusni Hassan, and Hong Leong Islamic Bank Berhad Country Islamic Head Irnyza binti Ngah.

The objective of the talk was to enhance knowledge of Islamic banking and finance and their development as well as their universal advantages to the students who took Islamic Banking and Islamic Finance subjects. Apart from that, the talk also aimed to motivate students on how to pursue a career in the various banking industry.

At the talk, Prof Rusni presented the topic “Addressing the Misconceptions of Islamic Banking and Finance”. She mentioned that Islamic finance products were not necessarily more expensive than conventional financial products. She also added that the growing competition from the opening of branches by conventional banks has resulted in more options for customers, with lower prices.

With 20 years of experiences in the Islamic capital market and banking industry in various capacities, Irnyza continued the talk by explaining her topic “Product Innovation in Islamic Finance”. She highlighted that innovation was the key to increase efficiency in order to sustain a business. She also outlined the variables of product innovation in the banking industry and mentioned that the innovation of products and services in Islamic Banking must be in line with Value-Based Intermediation (VBI) and Sustainability against the People, Profit, Planet (3P) Triple Bottom Line (TBL).

CABF Chairperson Dr Nurul Afidah binti Mohamad Yusof said, “The speakers each had given such an informative talk and clarification about the Islamic Banking. They elaborated on the benefits and provided good exposures on the Islamic Banking concepts and developments for the students. So, we are more than willing to collaborate again for future events.”

The talk ended with a Q&A session. A token of appreciation was given by Dr Au Yong to each guest speaker.