Hussein Al Qemzi, group chief executive officer of Noor Investment Group and CEO of Noor Islamic Bank, believes that Islamic finance has the potential to evolve beyond its niche market and become the globally accepted norm in banking. But before it can do this, it must diversify its products and services, as well as achieve greater standardisation.
With sharia-compliant investments outperforming their 'conventional' counterparts, appetite for these products can only be expected to grow. But the industry is still too fragmented, according to Ian Lancaster of Cogent Asset Management, with a lack of cross-border connectivity preventing it from achieving critical mass.