Kuwait’s Boubyan Sees Islamic Banking Boom

According to the chairman of Boubyan Bank, the growth rate of Islamic finance in Kuwait is the double of the one of conventional banking. In his opinion, strong demand throughout the Arab region can be expected. The country's Islamic banks reached credit volumes of 11.1 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($39.3 billion) during the first nine months of the year. This is 13.2% more than during the same period last year. Conventional banks on the other hand registered a 5.6% credit growth. Since the demand for sharia-complaint banking is so high in Kuwait, Boubyan has no intention to expand overseas yet. This contrasts with Kuwait Finance House (KFH).