Popularity of Islamic Banking Grows in the UAE: 2021 Islamic Banking Index

Emirates Islamic, an Islamic financial institution in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has revealed the most recent edition of its Islamic Banking Index, a survey about the progress, penetration and perception of the Shariah-compliant banking sector in the UAE. This also includes the future intentions of the country’s banking customers.

Why it Matters?

One of the key findings is that Islamic banking has gained popularity in the UAE, rising from 47% in 2015 to 60% in 2021, whereas the popularity of conventional banking has fallen from 70% to 61% over the same period. 48% of those polled said they favour Islamic banks more since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, up from 45% when the topic was first posed in 2020. Islamic banking remains popular in areas...