The global Islamic finance and banking sector is pegged at $1 trillion with an estimated growth rate that is four times higher than conventional financial services, according to organisers of the upcoming International Islamic Finance Conference 2012.
In a news announcement, the event management team at Emerald Insight suggested that the demand for the Sharia’a-managed industry is largely marketing driven with a noticeably high number of institutions entering the arena introducing new products to market.
A spokesman noted that recent estimates predict a year-on-year growth rate of 25 per cent, which would see the global industry valued at $5 trillion in 2016.
One of the region’s leading economists, Dr Henry Azzam, is due to open the conference at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Abu Dhabi in October this year. He is currently adviser to Deutsche Bank and chairman of the board at NASDAQ Dubai. He will be joined by banking and investment specialists to consider the opportunities and challenges that face the sector, including its regulatory and supervisory set-up. Among those other speakers will be Professor Fouad Beseiso, former central bank governor and first governor of the Palestinian Monetary Authority and Dr M. Kabir Hassan, associate professor and associate chair of the faculty of finance, University of New Orleans.