Asia poised to become main driver of Islamic banking in near future

Asia presents huge developmental potential for Islamic finance and is likely to be the main driver of Islamic banking growth in the near future, given the untapped potential in India, Bangladesh and Indonesia, a Kuwait Finance House Group report said. Islamic finance can be utilised for greater integration of financial markets with the real economy and for improvement of the economic balance between emerging and frontier markets, according to the report. However, the report did not provide details of Islamic banking operations in countries like India, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Driving the industry in the region is Malaysia, particularly in areas of Islamic banking, bonds and funds, it said.