IslamicFinance.de

There are at least 10 million Muslims in Russia, but the country lags behind in the industry. Russian Muslims are slow to change their financial habits, while nonbelievers are plagued by a deep-rooted distrust of Islam — as are, to some extent, the financial authorities, who are in no hurry to adapt economic legislation to facilitate Islamic banking. Still, an Islamic finance industry has been budding over the past decade in Russia, and analysts and players show cautious optimism about its prospects. The industry still has plenty of room to grow — Thomson Reuters forecasts that Islamic banking assets in Russia will reach up to $10 billion by 2018.