Islamic Financial Services

The Islamic financial services (IFS) industry has grown increasingly popular in recent years, with worldwide assets totalling $1.8trn in 2012 and forecast to top $2trn by the end of 2014. Having already established a reputation as a leading regional financial centre with abundant liquidity, Dubai has emerged as a major beneficiary of the IFS growth story. Sharia-compliant project financing, asset management and pension products are other segments poised for growth in the coming years. To realise the full extent of this potential, developing a solid regulatory framework and pursuing harmonisation of sharia-compliance standards at the national, bilateral and global levels will be key for Dubai.

This chapter contains a roundtable with Adnan Chilwan, CEO, Dubai Islamic Bank; Jamal Saeed bin Ghalaita, CEO, Emirates Islamic; and Hussain Al Qemzi, CEO, Noor Bank.