Ashraf Gomma Ali; Beebee Salma Sairally; Safiudin Ahmad Fuad; Marjan Muhammad (Edinburgh University Press, 2020)
Saudi Arabia is one of the largest Islamic finance markets in the world and therefore holds a position of special importance in the study of Islamic finance as well as in the study of shari'ah governance in Islamic financial institutions (IFIs). Saudi Arabia is the largest Islamic banking market in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) by market share; its Islamic banking assets accounted for 51.5 per cent of the domestic banking sector as at 2Q2017. Globally, Saudi Arabia ranked second after Iran among twelve jurisdictions where Islamic banking is systematically important. It accounted for 20.4 per cent of global Islamic banking assets in 2017 as compared to Iran, which accounted for 34.4 per cent. Even in the development of other segments of Islamic finance, Saudi Arabia holds a significant position. It ia active in the sukuk market, with its issuances - including those by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) - representing 33 per cent of total global issuances in 2017, thus ranking after Malaysia, which registered 38 per cent of total issuances. Saudi Arabia also accounted for 37 per cent of total Islamic funds in 2017, while 32 per cent of Islamic funds were domiciled in Malaysia. Moreover, it is the largest takaful market registering 38 per cent of global takaful contributions, followed by Iran (34 per cent), Malaysia (7 per cent) and the United Arab Emirates (6 per cent).
