- Efforts needed to overcome challenges and uphold integrity for sustainable economic growth
Interview with Mr Hamad Rasool Bhullar — an analystÂ
PAGE: Tell me something about yourself, please:
Hamad Rasool Bhullar:Â Basically, I am a humble learner in business and financial analysis, I have been working for both the private and public sectors over the last about 33 years in multiple roles with almost 28 years in professional training and teaching in multiple areas of finance, accounting, audit & compliance with corporate legal issues.
With respect to my work with the financial sector, I have been involved in research and training for almost 28 years so far and conducted over 350 pieces of training on different aspects of finance, business ethics, audit and corporate governance from basic concepts to professional applications in projects finance, Shariah-compliant risk management, investment management and financial analysis etc. in addition to the freelance consultancy and financial advisory in these fields. I remained a non-executive member on the Board of an Investment Bank for almost 4 years.
My qualifications and experience over the last 33 years have mainly been in accountancy, corporate law, IT, economics, corporate finance and Islamic finance, Takaful, business turnarounds, projects finance, audit & ethics with training and business advisory in multiple areas of corporate sector as well as public sector within and outside Pakistan.
I have the privilege to have issued the first Sukuk in Pakistan’s Investment Canvas with some other such initiatives.
PAGE: What is your perspective about the fast-growing Islamic financial services in Pakistan?
Hamad Rasool Bhullar:Â I have been a keen researcher in Islamic finance since the early years of my professional life as a reader on almost every aspect of Islamic finance, but practically found a lot of gaps in its empirical evidence in Pakistan. Almost 84 years ago the demand for Pakistan was made to implement the Islamic system of social, economic and other areas of life, but exactly that happened in it as well. The laws and principles are great but implementation remains poor, in the latest research by Harvard University, it has been revealed that Pakistani citizens are among the least mannered citizens. I am unable to understand how the followers of the most mannered person in history could be among the least mannered societies.
The problem with Islamic finance in Pakistan is that of all the other walks of life, we have multidimensional personalities, as in Ramazan we become worshipers but we remain unable to apply this behaviour throughout the year. Further on the Islamic lifestyle does not reflect in our day-to-day life and attitude. The same applies to our general lifestyle in Islamic financial services, it is only influenced by the Shariah scholars, not by the rules from the divine. Sometimes it seems so artificial that it seems to be driven by fake data. I want to clear out here that I am not against this system but, we have to follow it in its true spirit, not under the threat of Shariah with a fair amount of integrity within ourselves. I want to see Islamic financial services flourish even quicker, as I have always been requesting the masses as well as the market players that a day will soon come when the Islamic Financial System will become a norm.
PAGE: What is your standpoint about Islamic banks, Islamic mutual funds and Takaful operators?
Hamad Rasool Bhullar:Â As a matter of fact, these are the three off-shoots of the same tree with mutually beneficial existence to keep a pace of development hands in hand. The co-existence of all three is jointly beneficial for collective thought, collective growth and support for further evolution of the entire sector not only in Pakistan and Gulf countries but the entire globe.
PAGE: How would you comment on the elimination of Riba?
Hamad Rasool Bhullar:Â Elimination of Riba is a great challenge so far, mainly due to the fact that the primary focus of the corporate sector is to run their business whatever the source of funding, with the exception of a few industries which make just negligible components of the entire sector. However, where there are personal benefits involved, people are inclined towards Islamic finance, where the different types of funds like retirement funds, provident funds etc. are concerned, they are now mobilising towards shariah-compliant investment avenues.
If we continue to adopt this trend, it will take a long way to reach the goal. However, the government, with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and other stakeholders jointly with Shariah scholars have to sit together for a sincere and positive solution to this problem, only such a real and sincere effort can bring about the desired outcome.
PAGE: What must the incumbent government do to spur Islamic financial services in Pakistan?
Hamad Rasool Bhullar:Â The first and foremost objective of this government is to bring stability to the economy, by reducing inflation, stabilising industrial and agricultural sectors and strengthening the foreign exchange reserves which may lead to control of the flight of dollars from the country. They have to block and control the loopholes in the system. Both the incentive system as well as systematic tools have to be adopted to strengthen the economy with unbiased law and order situations.
Once the economy is stabilised, in general, Islamic finance will make its way to flourish. Further, my earlier suggestion has to be taken up, by sitting to gather beyond the taste of the tongue and political score-points. People will only think of Islamic finance when they are able to survive in an environment where the suicide ratio has been rising due to financial pressures. Stability brings peace of mind in general, reliability of policies leads to attracting investments and consistency of general growth, and finally the growth of Islamic finance will take off at its own pace.