(MENAFN- The Peninsula) H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud Al Thani, Governor of Qatar Central Bank, said yesterday that Islamic financial institutions enjoy a high pedigree in Qatar, making the country one of the world's main hubs for Islamic financial institutions.
He cited Standard & Poor's (S&P) report in 2013 confirming that Qatar's Islamic finance sector was the fastest growing in the world.
Speaking at the opening of the 10th International Conference on Islamic Economics and Finance, he said that Qatari Islamic banks have a 25 percent of all the equity of Qatari banks.
Additionally, Islamic banks play a crucial role in financing different developmental projects. Despite that, the Governor said that Islamic Banks face many challenges starting with maintaining its current growth levels and managing risks.
He added that to combat those challenges, QCB has dedicated an entire section to Islamic Financial Institutions in its new law which was issued in 2012.
On the international stage, he noted there were 800 Islamic financial institutions in the world according to the World Bank's 2013 report. Their assets are worth $1.8 trillion in 2013 and the GCC has a third of the assets of those 800 institutions.
The two-day conference, which began yesterday, is being held at Hamad Bin Khalifa University Student Center.
President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Dr Ahmed Mohammed Ali said that assets of Islamic financial institutions grew at an annual rate of 17 percent worldwide and assets are expected to reach $4.2 trillion by 2020. Ali said that the world has become more keen on Islamic finance and that reflected on its growth.
He stated that the World Bank and International Monetary Funds are now more interested in Islamic Finance, due to the role the latter can play in global monetary stability.
According to S&P's Islamic Finance Outlook report, released early this year, total balance sheet of Qatar's Islamic banks was $54bn as of year-end 2012. Qatari Islamic banks' market share in domestic credit increased from 13 percent in 2006, to 25 percent at the end of 2012, while the share in resident deposits increased from 13 percent to 28 percent in the same period.
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