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AS market conditions begin to show signs of improvement, investors are increasingly looking for Sharia-compliant investment opportunities, says Capinvest, the Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank.
Recently, banks have started seeing signs of a return of business confidence, both regionally and internationally, with investors now looking for more transparent and ethically structured products. For many investors this means that they will be opting for Islamic Investment products.
There has been exponential growth in Islamic Finance over the last few years with assets under management reaching $660 billion in 2007 up from just over $200 billion in 2003, and they are now expected to reach $1,200 billion in 2012 (Oliver Wyman 2009 - Next Chapter in Islamic Finance).
This growth is also linked to banks diversifying their activities away from a straightforward lending facility and moving to develop a full range of treasury products.
Hasan Habib Hasan, executive director of treasury and financial Institutions at Capinvest, said: "Investment products that adhere to Islamic principles offer today's investor some clear benefits.
"The ban on interest, investments in highly-leveraged assets, speculation, trading debt and complex structured products takes out many of the risks that led to the collapse or meltdown of some prime banks.
"The Islamic financial industry would be making a great mistake if it believes that it now needs to sit back, consolidate its position and wait to see what happens with global markets. This is the time we should all be looking to develop new and innovative ways of servicing the emerging investor confidence with Sharia compliant products and investments. This is a time to seek out opportunities."
