Rustam Minnikhanov: Islamic banking can be in demand in the Russian regions with a high share of Muslim population

On 19 May, speaking at the SberTalk session organized at the margins of the XIII International Economic Summit Russia – Islamic World: KazanSummit 2022 held in Kazan, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov said that Islamic banking can be in demand in the Russian regions where the high share of population confess Islam.

He underlined that despite Western sanctions many OIC member-countries continue interaction with our country and the Islamic banking system is the promising sphere of the trade and economic cooperation as this model can become an alternative to Western capital markets and trade platforms. 

Minnikhanov said that he thinks there are good reasons to establish a special structure in this sector introducing corresponding amendments into the legislation and establishing a special regime for taxation and banking in entities of Russia.

Senior Vice-President of the Sberbank Oleg Ganeyev highly appreciated the potential of the corporate Islamic financing in Russia, especially such products which correspond to Shariah norms as trade financing, Mudaraba, money transactions and others. He informed that in the nearest future the Sber will provide new services for Muslims, in particular the bank is developing a product for crediting construction business.

Senior Vice-President, the head of the Sberbank International Timur Kozintsev told that despite all difficulties the Sber can and must maintain its presence in international markets. He said that the bank actively studies new prospects opening in Asia, in the Middle East and other regions in the world.