Distribution of global Islamic fund assets 2018, by asset class

This statistic presents the distribution of global Islamic fund assets in 2018, by asset class. In that year, equity funds constituted 42.4 percent of Islamic funds, in terms of value of assets.

Islamic financial services

Islamic financial services are offered by Islamic banks as a substitute for traditional banking services. Islamic banks are based on two main Islamic principles that originate from the shariah law which prevent profit from interest or extortionate moneylending. Therefore, Islamic banks only profit by sharing profits and losses with the borrowers and investors and prohibit interest payments. In 2019, Ayandeh Bank in Iran was the largest bank that follows the shariah law with assets at a value of approximately 26 billion U.S. dollars. The services offered by Islamic banks include Islamic banking, takaful, and Islamic capital markets such as sukuk, equity, and Islamic funds. The Islamic services are codependent; hence the continuous development of other Islamic services is essential to provide asset managers with a diverse variety of Islamic financial instruments.

Islamic banking assets

The most common Islamic financial service worldwide was Islamic banking with a share of 70 percent. Its growth in 2019 was encouraged by oil price increases and credit growth potential. In that year, the jurisdictions with important Islamic banking sectors increased from 12 to 13, with the Gulf Cooperation Council region still holding the largest asset share of the Islamic banking market worldwide. Iran held the most Islamic banking assets in 2019 of more than 28 percent, while Saudi Arabia followed at about 25 percent.