IslamicFinance.de

In the executive summary of its report on GCC Islamic Finance, Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz” notes that at the end of 2012, assets under management (AUMs) in Islamic finance reached $1.76 trillion. The Islamic finance industry reached about $434 billion in size, in the GCC, for the year ending 2011. The report points out that global Takaful market is estimated to touch about $25 billion by end of 2015. A variety of factors contribute to the remarkable rise in the Islamic finance assets, said Markaz, including growing GDP, rising middle class society, and most importantly increased awareness of the concept of Islamic finance. However, Markaz also notes there are challenges, relating to evolving standards, shortage of expertise in the industry. Furthermore, the capital markets in the GCC region are relatively underdeveloped which hinders the growth of Islamic finance in the region.