Middle East Leading Region for Islamic Banking & Finance

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 03, 2009 --(PR.com)-- A recent research conducted by Shariah-Fortune screened around 810 companies in 50 countries worldwide offering Shariah compliant financial services.

The Middle East covers more than half (around 56 %) of the Islamic Finance market. Around 450 companies are located in this region. Leading countries are the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Most of the companies operate in the banking & financing sector.

Asian companies compound to a market share of about 20 %. In particular. Malaysia is one of the key players, not only in Asia, but also globally.

114 companies have been screened in Europe, which accounts for around 14 % of the global market share. On top position in Europe is the UK, boosted by the FSA´s regulatory initiatives.

Compared to its global importance North America takes only a small part in the listing for Islamic Finance. Around 44 companies (ca. 5 %) are located in the USA and Canada.

Africa, Australia and South America are hardly represented in the Islamic Finance world and have only a marginal market share.

Shariah-Fortune is a service provider in the Islamic Finance Intelligence. It provides informational content with regards to Islamic banking & financing, insurance/takaful, real estate, investment, asset/ wealth management and other services related to Islamic Finance. Shariah-Fortune provides the world´s biggest company online directory for Islamic Finance with more than 800 institutions in 50 countries worldwide. It covers nearly every geographic region and segment in the Shariah compliant products industry, sourced from the internet through a substantial secondary research effort coupled with a high quality data cleansing process.

Periodically Shariah-Fortune issues a free market report about the size, market players and development of the Islamic Finance sector.

Shariah-Fortune is headquartered in Dubai.

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