The fifth annual issue of the Global Islamic Finance Report (GIFR), published by Edbiz Consulting, will be officially launched today, April 14, 2014 at the Global Donors Forum in Washington DC. The conference will be attended by arguably the most influential Muslim philanthropists from around the world. The launch of the Report at such a prestigious event confirms the symbiotic relationship between Islamic finance and philanthropy. With the rapid growth of the industry, it is anticipated that Muslim philanthropy will burgeon with the increase of affluent and socially conscious Muslims.
Key findings of the report include the steady growth of industry which has reached US$1.813 trillion at the end of 2013. The report predicts that 2014 will be a bumper year and the industry is likely to surpass US$2 trillion by the end of 2014. According to the Islamic Finance Country Index (IFCI), a composite ranking of more than 40 countries indicating their involvement, leadership role and contribution to development of Islamic banking and finance, shows that the first three positions continue to be held by Iran (1), Malaysia (2) and Saudi Arabia (3). However, the Report points out that the ranking is likely to change dramatically over the next six years. Six countries will have an Islamic banking and finance industry that will represent over 50% share of the overall financial services sector by the year 2020 if they continue on their current trajectory. These countries include, Brunei Darussalam, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Malaysia and Qatar.
Dr. Humayon Dar, founder of Edbiz Consulting and Editor-in-Chief of the Report commented, "Over the last five years, GIFR has emerged as the most trusted publication offering Islamic financial intelligence for the benefit of all stakeholders in the Islamic banking and finance industry. Its size and growth estimates serve as benchmark for all other such estimates issued by other institutions in the world."
Commenting on the release of this ground breaking and industry building initiative, Rizwan Malik, Head, Business Development at Edbiz Consulting said "We thank the contributors, sponsors and supporters of GIFR 2014; without their support bringing out a high quality publication like this would have been challenging. We would especially like to thank Dubai Islamic Bank, Finance Accreditation Agency (FAA), Sedco Capital, ADCB Islamic, FWU, Commerzbank, Bank Nizwa, Bank Islam, Meethaq Islamic Banking, SAB2i and DDCAP".
The report will be available in the print form and can be requested from www.gifr.net or info@edbizconsulting.com. Previous issues of the report (2010-13) are available on www.gifr.net as e-books.
Edbiz Consulting is a global Islamic economic think tank with offices in London and Pakistan. For more information, please visit: www.edbizconsulting.com. Edbiz Consulting provides multiple services that balance the dual purpose of developing thought leadership in this niche industry and strengthening the Islamic finance capacity for businesses and banks. Our client base is diverse and includes financial institutions, education providers, established businesses and entrepreneurs.
© Press Release 2014
