The Evolution of Wealth Management in the World of Islamic Finance

Jersey Finance

Dec 27, 2019

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The world of Islamic finance has made great strides forward in the past two or more decades, yet Islamic wealth management lags well behind. The reality today is that Islamic wealth management is still in its infancy, both in size and sophistication, but there is enormous potential for its rapid expansion amongst the wealthy and super-wealthy individuals and families in the Muslim majority countries of the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and indeed worldwide.

But there is widespread optimism this will change, as promoters of Islamic wealth management - from the providers to the regulators - are now gearing up to offer a greater array of Sharia compliant wealth management products and solutions to a client base that is generating private wealth at a remarkable rate, and that is in ever greater need of a more comprehensive Islamic wealth offering. To realise some of this great potential, there are great challenges for the market players and regulators ahead, as they seek to overcome hurdles such as obtaining a consensus on Sharia compliance, the lack of product, the shortage of expertise, the dearth of promoters and a host of other shortcomings.

But it is possible, and there is a rising tide of energy driving the industry forward.

This White Paper is designed as a thought-leadership project that distils many varied insights and opinions of leading market exponents who collectively shine the spotlight on the many great opportunities and difficulties that lie ahead on the road to truly realising the market's potential in the decades ahead.

To arrive at this report's findings and insights, Hubbis, in collaboration with Jersey Finance, not only conducted the survey, but also a series of three thought leadership discussions that took place in Kuala Lumpur, Bahrain and Dubai at which we assembled some of the leading Islamic finance and wealth management market practitioners to discuss, on an entirely private and off-the-record basis, their professional views on the immense opportunities and also the significant challenges that lie ahead. Although it is clear that the hurdles to the evolution of the Islamic wealth finance market are both numerous and difficult to overcome, the conclusions of those who participated were consistently optimistic and encouraging.