The State Bank of Pakistan has launched a five-year policy that would strengthen the regulation of Islamic banking in Pakistan, and also help boost its market share from its present 4.5% to 12% by 2012, Business Recorder reports.

The new plan will be announced by the end of this month, said Pervez Said, Director Islamic Banking Department of SBP.

He was speaking at the Second International Conference on Islamic Banking and Finance , which was organized by the Al Huda Centre for Islamic Banking and Economics. Both local and international bankers participated in the conference.

Pervez said that under the new policy the SBP would also broaden the horizon of Islamic banking by focusing on agriculture, SMEs and micro finance. He elaborated that like five pillars of Islam, the policy also has five pillars on which the SBP would focus on and ensure its implementation.

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