Borsa Istanbul chair says all stocks exchanges should be run in Islamic way

ISTANBUL - Anadolu Agency

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The chairman of Turkey’s main stock exchange, Borsa Istanbul, said the term “Islamic finance” should be changed to “Finance of Islam,” as the income inequality problem could be solved through an interest-free Islamic finance model. 

“Instead of a stock market model where only interest-free Islamic stocks and Sukuk are traded, we should develop a model in which all securities could be traded in an Islamic way,” Borsa Istanbul’s Talat Ulussever said in a speech at the International Islamic Finance Summit on Sept. 8. 

He noted that through an Islamic finance model the income inequality issue could be solved across the world. 

Ulussever said the main reason behind all economic and financial crises has been related to high levels of debt among people and countries as well as the intensive use of highly leveraged financial products. 

“Financial crises have become so common and in a highly contaminated character for the last 40 years. This trend is highly related to the rapidly developing financialization movement,” he said. 

He noted Islamic finance will pave the way for creating a more prosperous and equal world for everyone.

He also said the term “risk” in economic terms comes from the Islamic term “rizq,” which means livelihood.
 
“We can understand the idea of risk sharing as ‘rizq’ sharing,” he said, adding that Islam encourages people to share their income with others.