Qatar

Qatar’s Islamic banking industry is one of the world’s largest and most experienced, given than its first entity – Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) – was established in 1982. Four decades later, as business confidence and economic growth is returning after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Islamic finance sector stands ready for renewed expansion. It can build on the important...

Qatar’s Islamic financial services sector is engaged in a shift towards sustainability to take advantage of robust global growth in demand for sharia-compliant investments and rising interest in green finance.

After a resilient performance in 2020, the international Islamic finance sector fared positively in 2021 as an improved economic environment, a rise in the number of large projects, and an increased focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors combined to drive demand for services.

The Gulf banking sector has witnessed an increase in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in recent years, as lenders continue to deal with the economic headwinds associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. At the outset of the pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, it was anticipated that the economic slowdown and the associated fall in oil prices would accelerate the M&A trend...