Hong Kong’s John Lee makes opportune Islamic finance move

Hong Kong for years has been working to expand services in Islamic finance. In a wise move, the government’s talent immigration scheme will fast track applicants with Islamic market expertise and accounting.

They are among nine professions added to the talent list, covering 60 types of jobs. The programme aims to foster high-value-added services to diversify the local economy.

It is a most welcome move, especially when countries in the Middle East and Asean states of the religious faith play increasingly influential roles in international finance and diplomacy. Other new job categories added to the talent scheme are ship surveyors, aircraft maintenance engineers, professionals in green shipping and patents, commodities trading veterans and systems architecture specialists.

As a global financial hub, the city needs to cater to not only the traditional Western or Wall Street types of services, but others in the Global South, to which many emerging economies with a Muslim majority belong.

The Islamic bond market is a significant area to which Hong Kong has only modest exposure. Those who work in finance here have mostly been trained in Western practices and regulations.

But Islamic finance is based on sharia law, which imposes financial restrictions on charging and paying interest, and has specific rules on profit-sharing. Their services and products, most notably, require experts and experienced accountants to handle.