Islamic banking needs to break out

The Shariah-complaint finance sector has been growing strongly, but only in a few jurisdictions and with limited product diversity. As oil-derived liquidity flows dry up in its core markets in the Gulf, what can it do to fix its lack of international reach?

by Dominic Dudley

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Sometime later this year Qatar International Islamic Bank is hoping to gain a licence in Morocco for a new bank that it is setting up in a joint venture with the local CIH Bank. It is just one small part in a wider story of Islamic banks gaining footholds and expanding. Among other recent converts to the cause is Oman, which began to issue Shariah-compliant banking licences in 2012.

It is not just a trend in Muslim-majority countries.

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