IslamicFinance.de

The Middle East remains the most financially excluded region in the world despite being a middle income region. When the World Bank conducted its first Global Findex survey in 2011, the Middle East had the lowest bank account ownership rate of the six developing regions. In the Middle East only about 14% of adults have an account, virtually unchanged from 2011. The World Bank has made substantial efforts to ensure that SMEs obtain access to finance over the past six years – with large line of credit operations in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco.

A number of Mediterranean basin countries are promoting themselves as Islamic finance hubs in an effort to attract sukuk, trust and investment funds business.