A summary of the latest Islamic finance news from around the world.

Islamic fintech market slated to reach $128 bn by 2025

The Islamic fintech market size for the Organisation of Islamic Council (OIC) countries is forecast to grow at 21% CAGR to reach $128 billion by 2025, according to research cited by Financial Reporter. Based on DinarStandard and Elipses figures, the Islamic fintech market size in OIC was $49 billion in 2020. “While this might seem like a standout figure, the reality is that this accounted for only 0.72% of the global fintech market size,” wrote Khofiz Shakhidi of Alif Bank. The article noted that the Islamic fintech sector is facing challenges around market awareness and knowledge about Sharia-compliant products and services. “This is an issue commonly raised in non-Muslim jurisdictions, and the UK is no exception,” the article noted. According to the ICD-Refinitiv Islamic Finance Development Report, in 2019, the UK had the third-largest number of Islamic Finance Education Providers, followed by Indonesia and Malaysia. The UK ranked third in the world for the number of Islamic Finance Conferences held in 2019. There are estimated to be more than 100,000 Islamic finance retail customers in the UK, with the value of net assets of Islamic funds at £600 million ($813 m).