 In this segment, we would be looking at Islamic finance in a global context. In a global context because Islamic banking and finance has become a global phenomenon. It started with one or two countries. However, we find that Islamic banks and financial institutions are now everywhere. They are not only in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or other neighboring countries. But in fact, they are found in far off places like Surinam as well. So given the global importance of Islamic banking and finance, we would be looking at Islamic finance in a global context. Let us look at the history of Islamic banking and finance. It might be surprising for many of you to find out that the first Islamic bank was established in a non-Muslim country. It was in the Philippines. Where Ammanah Islamic Bank was set up by the government of the Philippines in the 1960s. Egypt may be an Islamic finance experiment in the 1960s. Pakistan was another example where Islamic banking and finance played an important role. At least in terms of attempts in the early 60s, the UAE. The UAE is actually accredited for housing the first Islamic bank in the Muslim world. Dubai Islamic Bank, for example, was set up in 1975 in the UAE. Saudi Arabia, other countries of the world as well. So the history of Islamic banking and finance as a contemporary phenomenon is about 70-80 years old. In the 1960s, a number of experiments were done including in Pakistan where a cooperative bank was set up in Karachi which was not very successful and it was closed down within six months. In other countries like Malaysia, some successful experiments took place. In the 1960s, Malaysian government set up an institution called Tabung Haji. That proved to be a very successful Islamic financial institution. Tabung Haji was set up to allow Malay Muslims to save in a Sharia compliant way so that they could go to Makkah and Medina to perform Hajj. This institution became so big that actually it became a major shareholder of quite a few Islamic financial institutions including Bank of Islam Malaysia Barhad which was set up in 1981-82 as the first Islamic bank in Malaysia. Tabung Haji through a holding company also has a shareholding in Takaful Malaysia. Which is a very important Takaful player in Islamic finance. Now with this brief history, we find that Islamic banking and finance hasn't done that badly. Today, we find Islamic financial institutions operating side by side conventional financial institutions in the GCC countries. GCC stands for the Gulf Cooperation Council which comprises six countries Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar and Oman. This GCC region is actually the major hub of Islamic banking and finance because a lot of Islamic financial assets are actually concentrated in the GCC countries. And of course in the other parts of the Muslim world, we find that Islamic banking and finance has been developed as an important phenomenon and segment and sector of the economy. And Islamic banking and finance has gone to the West as well. For example in the United Kingdom, there are quite a few Islamic banks operating as Islamic investment banks and of course there is at least one Islamic retail bank in the United Kingdom. In Germany, we find an Islamic retail bank as well. So Islamic banking has developed to become a global phenomenon in such a way that even the institutions like IMF, World Bank and other development banks like Asian Development Bank they have been looking for opportunities to get themselves engaged in Islamic banking and finance. Towards the end I would like to spend some time on the major segments of Islamic banking and finance. When we say Islamic banking and finance, it's not just about Islamic banking. Islamic banking of course remains an important segment. This is actually the largest segment of Islamic banking and finance. However we have Islamic capital markets. Islamic capital markets have two components. Sukuk market which is Islamic debt market and the equity market where we have Islamic funds being managed by a number of fund managers both in the Muslim world as well as in the West. Then we have the Kaful. The Kaful companies operate everywhere including in Pakistan. Islamic microfinance, this is an other important segment and now we have some other institutions emerging as important Islamic financial institutions like OCAF. Current state of affairs of Islamic banking and finance. I must tell you that as of now or at the end of December 2020, the global size of assets of Islamic financial institutions was 2.941 trillion US dollars according to global Islamic finance report. And the different segments of Islamic banking and finance industry had their shares in accordance with this diagram. About 73.1% of global Islamic financial assets, i.e. out of 2.941 trillion US dollars, about 33% they are held by Islamic banks or banks with Islamic operations. Then we have Sukuk, they have about 20%, 19.47%. Islamic funds, they have about 4.18%. Then we have the Kaful and related about 1.82% and Islamic microfinance has got about 1% of these assets and others they have less than 1% share in the total pie of Islamic financial assets. From this figure you can see that the Islamic banking is the largest segment of Islamic banking and finance industry and future developments in Islamic banking and finance are expected to be through this segment. Although many industry analysts would say that this segment i.e. Sukuk, Islamic capital market segment would remain an important contributor to growth of Islamic banking and finance in future.