to start islamic finance operations here in mauritius, and welcome hsbc amanah to our shores. today, my colleagues and i who have worked on this subject for two years now feel a legitimate sense of fulfillment. and i can tell our friends from hsbc : you add depth to our financial sector. and give a new dimension to your long - established presence here. you also comfort us in our ambition to grow and develop our country as a major international financial centre. in these very difficult times that we are going through, when we inspect every passing cloud for any trace of silver lining, can we perhaps expect amanah to be the spark that we are looking for to re - energise our faltering economy? all our very best wishes to you and your team, and a very good day to all of you, ladies and gentlemen, who are here with us this morning for the launching ceremony of the very first islamic finance operation in mauritius.

. ” we are proud that as we take our first tentative steps in islamic finance we have a prestigious global name such as hsbc amanah to support us in our ambition to position mauritius as a jurisdiction of choice for world - class islamic financial services. it is an irony that we have driven conventional banking, western style, so far beyond its carrying capacity that we now have to delve back, for new solutions to the question of sustainability, into that quite different tradition of banking derived from the principles of the shariah. our approach to islamic banking / our challenges central banks, such as bank negara malaysia and the bank of england amongst others, have been important sources of inspiration for us. one has emerged as the islamic finance powerhouse of the world and the other is by far the most renowned conventional financial centre. the uk had a visionary leader in eddie george, central bank governor between 1993 - 2003. sadly, lord george left us recently. i had the pleasure of meeting him last october on a day trip to robben island laid on by south african governor tito mboweni and he spoke very fondly of his visit to mauritius. he was an easy conversationalist. it was precisely a conversation with his neighbours, a well - established professional couple, deploring the fact that they were unable to access mortgages in the united kingdom on the ground that they were based on riba, and thus not in accordance with the principles of their faith, that moved him to envisage islamic finance in the uk. this casual chit - chat between good neighbours has today resulted in a financial centre that harbours six authorised islamic financial institutions and another two dozen or so institutions offering islamic financial products as well as over twenty sukuks listed on the london stock exchange. meanwhile, driven by petrodollars and rising prosperity in the gulf and southeast asia, islamic finance has literally exploded. increasing demand for shariah - compliance augurs even better days ahead for the islamic finance industry as we prepare to enter the field. in these circumstances, how could we resist stealing a page from eddie george ’ s book? just like the british fsa did over 10 years back, we steered our thinking towards having a regulatory framework that accommodates both conventional and islamic financial institutions. we have also drawn guidance from the experience of other countries which have embarked on islamic finance but we have had to map out our own route. for instance, we have opted not to impose a single shariah on our