Islamic banking assets in UAE hit $142billion in Q1 2017

ISLAMIC FINANCE UAE

DUBAI, 28th June, 2017 (WAM) -- The UAEs AED522 billion Islamic banking assets will help fuel the growth of the countrys Halal sector, according to a research conducted by Orange Fairs and Events, organisers of the Halal Expo Dubai, 2017.

Seven Islamic banks out of the 23 registered commercial banks in the UAE represent nearly a fifth of the countrys banking assets. Islamic banks assets grew three times more than the conventional banks assets during Q1 2017, said the research, quoting data from the UAE Central Banks latest quarterly report.

"In the first quarter of 2017, Islamic banks assets had a higher growth of 3.2% than the conventional ones-1%- while on an annual basis Islamic banks grew by eight percent and continued to dominate the conventional banks growth that showed an increase of 5.9 percent," the CB report mentioned.

Islamic banks credit to individuals recorded 7.6 percent to AED126 billion in Q1 2017 compared to a two percent growth in the conventional banks credit to individuals that reached AED224 billion for the same period.

Raees Ahmed, Director of Orange Fairs and Events, organiser of the Halal Expo Dubai, 2017, said, "This means Islamic banks personal finance, including Islamic credit card sector is growing at a higher rate than that of the Conventional banks personal finance and credit card segment.

"The split between conventional and Islamic banks indicates that the growth in Islamic financing is much steeper than that for the conventional banks loans. This effectively means that lending in the Halal sector is going up at a much higher rate than that of the non-Halal sector, as was evident in the first quarter of 2017."