Islamic finance has been one of the fastest growing areas of finance in recent years, but this growth has been from a very small base. Even in those Muslim countries where consumers have a choice between conventional and Islamic finance, Islamic finance has not gained a share of the market of more than 50%. How can it be made more attractive to customers?
At the moment a lot of the thinking on this seems to be coming out of Kuwait, from where I have just returned. All finance depends on market participants having trust in the institutions and products with which they engage. But with the risk-sharing approach of Islamic finance this is particularly crucial.
