Episode 37-Banking on Faith: Australia’s First Islamic Bank

Islamic finance is gaining traction in Australia. With over 813,000 Muslims—about 3.2% of the population—there's an increasing demand for financial services that align with their faith. However, Islamic finance still makes up a small part of the banking sector, with limited options from major banks and a few non-bank providers.

Change is on the horizon. Australia has signed a significant free trade deal with the UAE, its top trading partner in the MENA region, which opens doors for stronger economic ties. Now, the country is getting ready to launch its first Islamic bank.

In our 37th episode, we spoke to Dean Gillespie, CEO of Islamic Money Australia (formerly Islamic Bank Australia or IBA). With extensive banking experience and a commitment to financial inclusion, Dean shares how this new bank could reshape finance for Australia’s Muslim community and beyond.

In this episode, we touched on several topics including:

• Looking at the financial needs of Australian Muslims
• The journey in setting up a new Islamic bank
• Some of the challenges in facilitating Islamic finance 

Islamic Money Australia's Facebook page-https://www.facebook.com/ibaustralia

Email us: hassan@majlisandmarkets.com

Follow Majlis & Markets on LinkedIn-https://lnkd.in/eXKNRVcF

Intro theme song-Arab and Muslim by StockMusic via Pixabay

Chapters

• 0:47 Monologue intro
• 1:50 Beginning of discussion
• 2:24 Dean's background
• 4:03 When did you hear about Islamic finance?
• 5:12 Islamic finance landscape
• 7:28 Muslims' financial needs
• 10:08 Comparing to the UK
• 14:15 Political will
• 16:33 Global Islamic banks ignoring Aus?
• 18:00 Awareness and price of IF
• 20:55 Creating truly Islamic products
• 23:00 Attracting customer types
• 26:05 Timeline of IBA launch
• 28:11 Gulf investors and Aus
• 30:32 AAOIFI standards
• 31:58 Non-banking products
• 34:23 Upcoming projects
• 35:30 Social media accounts