Size will matter in Islamic banking

One possibility is that at some point regulators will become agents for change rather than opponents of it. If they raise capital requirements, for example, or define a minimum scale for Islamic banks, they will drive consolidation; they can further enable it by being more accommodating to foreign buyers. Malaysia, for example, brought its domestic conventional banking sector down from over 50 financial institutions to 10 banking groups in less than a decade. It may yet push for further consolidation among Islamic financial services groups too.

There’s no good reason that mergers won’t come in time. Logically, they should: this is how the conventional banking world has ended up and Islamic banking, when its industry reaches a greater degree of maturity, will likely do so too. There’s also no shortage of available capital, particularly in the Middle East. “There are merits in growing organically, but that takes time,” says Natt. “As an ex-banker I am all for the creation of a global Islamic institution. The future is for Islamic banks to look beyond their borders.”