SAY “Islamic banking” and one may conjure images that border on a banal reference to a fourth of the world’s population. This prejudice, however, is ending as local monetary authorities have been recently redoubling efforts in promoting this segment of financing in the Philippines.

That stride, however, got lost in its steady cadence as, like several sectors last year, developments in Islamic banking were derailed by government’s belated lockdown measures against the spread of the coronavirus disease of 2019. Still, optimism is, like Covid-19, infectious as many believe Islamic banking can help the banking sector reach the unbanked.