KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Malaysia hopes to be the first in the world to introduce Islamic wealth management, and champion the new product under the Islamic financial system, says Finance Deputy Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan.

He said Islamic wealth management was an exciting and promising sub-sector of the financial services industry.

“We understand the concept of wealth management from the shariah perspectives that covers both the physical as well as spiritual facets of wealth.

“This principle stands in contrast to the conventional wealth management that focuses on only the physical or material wealth,” he told reporters after officiating a conference on Islamic Wealth Management, here today.

He said having already established itself as a global leader in Islamic finance, Malaysia today was the world’s third-largest market for shariah assets, namely, Islamic banking products and services, sukuk and takaful.

Ahmad said the government was stepping up measures to further Malaysia’s aspirations towards becoming a centre of intellectual excellence in Islamic finance.

“Several human capital development institutions, including the International Shariah Research Academy for Islamic Finance , International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance, Islamic Banking and Finance Institute of Malaysia and the Asian Institute of Finance had been established to crystallise the aspiration.

“I foresee Islamic wealth management as a natural next-stage development of the local Islamic finance industry with the availability of our infrastructure, in respect of the human capital development to the Islamic financial institutions and expertise we have before us today,” he said.

The two-day conference, organised by the Malaysian Financial Planning Council and Labuan International Business and Financial Centre, serves as a platform for networking and exchange of thoughts and outlook about the inner workings of the Islamic financial industry.

More than 300 delegates including policy makers, research institutes, government agencies, practitioners and scholars are attending the conference. — Bernama