Global Islamic Banking assets to reach $3.4tr by 2018

Global Islamic commercial banking assets could hit $3.4 trillion by 2018 on the back of heightened economic activity in shariah-strong countries such as Qatar and Malaysia, says Ernst & Young. In 2013, profits of Islamic banks in key markets such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkey exceeded $10 billion (Dh36.7 billion). Profit numbers, however, are still lagging traditional banks by 15 to 19 percentage points on average, the report said, according to Gulf News daily. One of the reasons for disparity is that “average number of Islamic banking products per customer is just over two, whereas leading traditional banks have an average of five products per customer,” the report added.