Asia's emergence as the healthiest engine of global economic growth is as evident in Islamic finance as it is in the conventional banking sector. The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) region remains the core of Islamic finance, accounting for more than 40% of total sharia-compliant assets.
Islamic finance covers many areas and in this exercise The Banker did not want to exclude any Islamic financial institution. Clear definitions of what constitutes a non-bank institution need to be improved but we wanted to include not only investment banking operations and Islamic investment companies, as distinct from banks, but also Islamic insurance operations.