Kuwait punches well above its weight on the global stage of Islamic finance. Despite the country’s relatively small size, it ranks fourth globally in terms of total sharia-compliant assets, which are estimated to be about $90bn according to research from EY. Though this ranking excludes Iran, which has a fully sharia-compliant financial system, it positions Kuwait in a league with much larger economies in the Middle East and beyond.
This position of strength is the result of Kuwait’s roots as one of the earliest pioneers of Islamic finance – Kuwait Finance House (KFH) was established in 1977 – but it also stems from the extraordinary growth enjoyed by the industry in the intervening years.
