Annual overview to highlight competition, performance
The much-awaited Annual World Islamic Banking Competitiveness Report 2007-08 will be released in the Kingdom at the forthcoming 14th Annual World Islamic Banking conference on December 9.
A team of McKinsey partners from key international centres will release the report highlighting strategic trends, analysis of the growth and performance of the leading industry players.
Now in its fourth year, the Competitiveness Report has emerged the strategic reference point for market leaders as they take on the challenges of competition, strategic leadership and performance improvement, said Ozgur Tanrikulu, Partner at McKinsey and Company in Dubai.
"Besides the annual overview of the Islamic banking sector, this edition delves into select business and operational areas, which are of increasing relevance to the leaders in the sector. It explores the latest developments in Asia, in terms of general market trends as well as government and regulator initiatives to boost the sector."
He said the report also underlined the need for Islamic banks to upgrade their internal capabilities and tide over the challenges and opportunities in risk management from best practices. "Keeping in mind the flourishing economy of the GCC and the excess liquidity in the hands of both wealthy individuals and government funds, it has a special look at the untapped opportunities for Islamic banks in asset management," he said.
The report will look at the evolution of the Islamic banking sector and of specific players, their growth and performance in an overview of competitive performance and also focus on critical issues that need to be addressed to continue the growth trend. Critical questions on the size and attractiveness of the market and the key success factors to effectively compete in the rapidly changing international landscape, key trends in the Islamic asset management space and the latest approaches to risk management in the context of specific Islamic financial products would be explored.
Afaq Khan, CEO of Standard Chartered Saadiq, said the Islamic finance industry has grown from strength-to-strength in recent years and Standard Chartered Saadiq's business continues to grow rapidly more than doubling since 2005, including several firsts in the Islamic finance industry in the last twelve months. Sadiq, the Islamic Banking arm of Standard Chartered Bank, is partnering with WIBC as the Competitiveness Report Sponsor.
"The growth in the industry is well diversified across wealth management, corporate and investment banking and private equity sectors. We are also witnessing the development of several global Islamic Banking megatrends, especially the exponential growth in the Sukuk market, envisaged to reach a potential of $150 billion by 2010. The next wave is the entire Islamic area of treasury risk management - Islamic hedging."
The industry is in the throes of rapid expansion with Islamic banking making the transition from niche business segment to becoming a parallel financial system to drive growth through financial alternative and innovation, he added.
By K V S Madhav Senior Business Reporter
© Bahrain Tribune 2007
