The 14th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference presents predictions of further industry growth, innovation and globalisation

A major challenge for leading institutions is to channel resources and focus on those markets and segments that have the greatest potential for exciting growth.

The concluding day opened with the Leaders & Winning Strategies session where Innovation in Islamic finance and the current challenges were discussed by Michael Chahine, Director and Global Head of Islamic Banking Distribution, Credit Suisse, Fares Mourad, Director and Global Head of Islamic Investment, Credit Suisse & Olaf Ransome, Director (Prime Services) Head of Business Development, Credit Suisse, Zurich.

The Corporate & Investment Banking Summit: Pinpointing the Next Wave of Big Deals focused on exploring key trends in the corporate & investment banking markets, the latest developments in the Islamic capital markets with a specific emphasis on the way forward for Sukuk.

The conference also the focused on the Retail Banking market and analysed the product development and operational capabilities of the industry leaders with a view to capture the consumer banking growth opportunity.

During the Shari'ah & Business Open Forum, a high-profile panel of scholars and bankers tackled the challenges of ensuring greater consistency of Shari'ah interpretation, enabling an effective interface between business imperatives and the Shari'ah board, while addressing the shortage of Shari'ah scholars.

The development of the Singapore market and the attendant risk and regulation of Islamic banks was discussed by Chia Der Jiun, Executive Director (Prudential Policy) of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He described Singapore as a major international wholesale banking centre with $880bn of banking assets in the Asian Dollar market, with a fast growing wealth management hub of about $600bn AuM (about 20-30% growth over past 5 years) and Islamic real estate funds of over $1.35bn.

With 1,000 attendees from more than 35 countries gathered at the conference, speakers and delegates agreed that the immediate future of the industry is characterized by a strong growth potential especially beyond the traditional markets. While the development of Islamic banking in the GCC markets will continue to lead the way, experts at the conference also predicted significant growth for Islamic banking in Asia and even in markets in the UK, Europe, Africa and North America.