'Turkey to play leading role in Islamic finance'

By Diyar Guldogan and Jeyhun Aliyev

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey plays a leading role in Islamic finance, said group chairman and chief executive officer of Path Solutions, an Islamic banking software provider.

"I believe that Turkey has a role to play as a leader in Islamic finance and as a hub because it is one of the top three Islamic finance markets in the world," Mohammed Kateeb told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

He spoke on the sidelines of the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI) Global Forum in Istanbul.

The two-day forum, which ended Thursday with Anadolu Agency as its global communication partner, focused on how the industry will fulfill its obligations while remaining competitive and relevant within global financial markets.

Kateeb said they are interested in Turkey because they believe that the Turkish market is "very advanced" in technology.

Also addressing Path Solution's commitment in contributing to the empowerment of the Islamic finance industry, Kateeb said development of blockchain -- a technology that records and verifies transactions safely based on cryptography -- is very important for Islamic finance.

"We believe that the development of blockchain is very important for Islamic finance because blockchain allows you to track value in a secure and transparent way and allows you to also exchange documentations like contracts, in a secure way," he added.

Kateeb said security and transparency are "very important" for Islamic finance since it is based on assets.

"I believe blockchain will remove the middleman from a lot of transactions," he added.