From Mohd Iswandi Kasan Anuar

OXFORD, July 27 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is set to clinch 25 per cent of global transactions in Islamic banking within the next decade from less than 10 per cent currently, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said.

He said Malaysia would be attractive because it was the only country having a complete value chain of Islamic financing with Islamic and conventional banking both operating in the mainstream financial services landscape.

"There is great potential and if we do it right, we should be able to achieve that," he told a press conference at the Inaugural Oxford Global Islamic Branding and Marketing Forum here Monday.

He said Islamic finance companies in Malaysia should produce more products in view of their experience in creating truly genuine Islamic financial products.

They should create more interesting Islamic products based on the concept of mudharabah (profit sharing) or musyarakah (profit and loss sharing), he added.

On the halal industry, Nor urged the players to produce products or services that have value propositions not only for Muslim but also non-Muslim markets.

The industry has come to a level where companies should look at non-Muslim markets to create economies of scale and as a result, make the products much cheaper, he said.

"We have now come to a stage where we can create products from bottom up instead of taking conventional products and cleansing it," he said, adding that more than 70 per cent of the world population are non-Muslims.

He said the halal brand should also mean quality, pure and clean so that the market reach would not be limited to Muslims.

"If we tell that halal is end-to-end traceability and very safe as well as follow all ethical requirements then I belief the non-Muslims will also buy," he said.

The two-day forum that began Monday was organised by University of Oxford's Said Business School. Tanjung Manis Halal Hub is one of the lead partners.

Tanjung Manis is a Sarawak government project and a component in the Sarawak development corridor.

-- BERNAMA