by Dominic Dudley
© Faisal Nasser / Reuters/REUTERS
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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. In Europe, the Bank of England issued a consultation paper in February on the feasibility of establishing a Shariah-compliant liquidity facility. Such developments create the impression that Islamic banking is starting to make headway in the global banking system.