In association with Paris Europlace, Invest HK, Cyprus High Commission Commercial Section

Diversification by banks away from industry and into retail indicates Russia’s growing banking prowess.

How profitable are Islamic financial institutions? With Islamic instruments and different reporting standards in some cases, direct comparisons with traditional western interest-bearing instruments have often been difficult to make.

In this vibrant young industry, many new players are emerging. The combination of huge liquidity in the Gulf region from oil prices in excess of $80 a barrel and the attraction of new opportunities through Islamic finance has led to a large expansion of Islamic institutions both in the Gulf and elsewhere.

The Top 25 country ranking of the Top 500 Islamic institutions clearly demonstrates that Iran, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia are by far the three largest countries providing Islamic finance, with Iran’s total amounting to $154.6bn of sharia-compliant assets (SCAs) accounting for 30.9% of the global aggregate total of $500.5bn.

The Islamic finance industry is rapidly evolving and expanding, with growth of banking assets estimated at $750bn and growing at a rate of 15% to 20% a year. Nabeel Shoaib explains.

How fast is the Islamic finance industry growing? The Banker attempts to answer this question with the launch of a new listing: Top 500 Islamic Financial Institutions. The pioneering role of the listing is to provide a benchmark for the future, which can be improved on for the good of the industry. Better disclosure is expected to flow from the publication of listings such as this as greater competition puts pressure on institutions to increase transparency in this area. Stephen Timewell and Joe DiVanna report.

Brazil’s banks dominate the listing with their healthy assets and profitability, and Mexico also does well.

Mergers work through with little change and aggregate Tier 1 capital is up.

Our rankings reveal no evidence of a bursting Asian bubble as China, and India to a lesser extent, power onwards.