Though the recent story of Islamic finance is largely a successful one, the sector's relative lack of maturity means that some shortfalls do exist. One of these – the supply-demand mismatch regarding small and medium-sized enterprises – has left a potentially lucrative hole to fill.
The increasingly international outlook of the Islamic finance market place is providing new growth opportunities for Islamic banks and, according to Standard Chartered Saadiq, Malaysia's chief executive, Wasim Akhtar Saifi, is also offering much-needed solutions to the industry's longer term liquidity management problems.
Having been upgraded from frontier to emerging market status by Morgan Stanley Capital International, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are certain to see increasing levels of investor interest, but they are also likely to be confronted with some new challenges.
Awash with hydrocarbons and boasting a highly liquid banking sector, Libya's potential is vast. However, continued political and social unrest, combined with the dominant position of state-owned banks, mean that the country's private sector banks have numerous obstacles preventing them from realising this potential.