Saudi Islamic Finance Assets Valued At US$ 94 Bln: Deloitte Report

Saudi Arabia is one of the main contributors to the Islamic Finance industry, with an estimated $94 billion in Islamic finance assets, according to an analysis provided by Deloitte Middle East Islamic Finance Knowledge Centre (IFKC).

The total of the Saudi Arabia Islamic finance assets, valued at US$94 billion, represent 26 per cent out of total Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Islamic Finance assets and 8.2 per cent out of total global Islamic finance assets.

The report, entitled ‘Empowering Risk Intelligence in Islamic Finance’, addresses and investigates the important issues in practice and regulation in Islamic finance in the current market challenges. The report also assesses the impact of Islamic Financial Institutions in different countries.

The report also focuses on the governance and structural aspects of an effective risk management framework in Islamic finance. The Deloitte report finds that Saudi Arabia saw the launch of one the first and most important institutions in the Islamic Finance (IF) Industry.

The Islamic Development Bank is a multilateral development financing institution established in Jeddah in 1975. Up until today, the (IDB) has contributed over US$200 million of technical support to nearly 70 Islamic Financial Institutions (IFI) around the world.

The Sukuk market in Saudi Arabia (the Islamic equivalent of debt) is considered the third largest in the world after Malaysia and UAE, according to the IIFM sukuk report. Total issue number of 25 with issue size of US$17.1 billion up until December 2011, Times of Oman reported.