Islamic Financial Services
From The Report: Abu Dhabi 2019
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Abu Dhabi is a prominent player in Islamic finance and is active in markets for sharia-compliant debt; deposit, lending and investment schemes; and risk-management through takaful (Islamic insurance). Acting through the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the emirate’s financial free zone, the sector has access to domestic as well as offshore service providers. Together with the six other emirates of the UAE, Abu Dhabi participates in a national level market, which is the world’s fourth-largest in terms of Islamic finance assets, at $203.2bn. The emirate holds just over 9% of the $2.2trn total global sharia-compliant assets, 72% of which is held by banks. This chapter contains an interview with Khamis Mohamed Buharoon, Acting CEO and Vice-Chairman, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Regulating success: Islamic financial services providers continue to grow at faster rates than their conventional counterparts
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Abu Dhabi is a prominent player in Islamic finance and is active in markets for sharia-compliant debt; deposit, lending and investment schemes; and risk-management through takaful (Islamic insurance). Acting through the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the emirate’s financial free zone, the sector has access to domestic as well as offshore service providers. Together with the six other emirates of the UAE, Abu Dhabi participates in a national level market, which is the world’s fourth-largest…

Interview

On the rise: Khamis Mohamed Buharoon, Acting CEO and Vice-Chairman, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), on the need for standardisation in Islamic banking and growth beyond traditional customers
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Interview :Khamis Mohamed Buharoon In what ways can the standardisation of Islamic finance boost its overall attractiveness? KHAMIS MOHAMED BUHAROON: A body to oversee and regulate the Islamic banking and finance sector would definitely have a positive impact, as it would strengthen the consistency of how sharia-compliant products and services are offered to customers. It would also spearhead standardisation across the Islamic finance sector, engendering public trust and encouraging steady…

Analysis

Expert advice: A panel of scholars has been created to oversee sharia-compliant products and services, and improve standardisation
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As a religion, Islam has no central authority, and Muslims have established multiple schools of thought. Islamic finance reflects this decentralised approach, as in the past it has been largely up to each individual financial institution to design products and services they believe are sharia compliant. This is usually done by establishing a sharia board comprised of three religious scholars versed in finance, who are then tasked with issuing fatwas (rulings on a point of Islamic law) on the compliance…