2022 Islamic Finance Outlook IFN, an arm of Malaysia’s RED money Group, has named Pakistan’s State Bank of Pakistan as the best central bank for Islamic finance in the world. Voting results from around the world were made public today. In the world of Islamic finance, the IFN Best Banks Poll is a coveted honour. The second-placed bank was Bank Negara Malaysia, while the third-placed bank was the Saudi Central Bank. This year’s competition for the Best Central Bank in promoting Islamic Finance is one of the most closely fought battles among regulators. For the fifth time in seven years, SBP has received this honour. SBP had previously received this prestigious honour in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2020. State Bank of Pakistan was congratulated by IFN on its cover story for winning the Best Central Bank in Promoting Islamic Finance award for the third time in a row. Despite a close race, the IFN declared that the winner would be crowned in 2020. With its Governor, Dr Reza Baqir, recently promoted to be the new chairman of the Council of the IFSB from his role as the Deputy Chairman in 2021, the central bank can hopefully look forward to even stronger support and leadership in the coming year while announcing the poll result. As the best central bank in the world, the IFN Award for SBP is a global endorsement of its efforts to promote Islamic banking in the country. SBP’s strategic measures to create a strong policy environment for Islamic banking have been recognized internationally. IBIs (Islamic Banks Institutions) manage a network of 3,651 full-fledged Islamic banks, as well as 17 conventional banks with dedicated Islamic Banking branches and windows, which are steered by 22 Islamic Banking Institutions. As a result of Pakistan’s government’s continued support for the industry, it is expanding at an impressive rate.