Islamic Finance

Due mainly to higher profits from natural gas and oil, Qatar's banking industry is thriving. The next step for Qatar's banks is to attract greater numbers of retail customers CBQ has named their such campaign 'Listening, understanding and succeeding.' This trend involves an attempt by both local and overseas banks looking to grab the better margins available from higher-salaried personal customers by offering improved services in standard product categories such as loans, accounts, investments, savings and credit cards.

Islamic banks currently face a plethora of competitive pressures from both the traditional commercial banks and other Islamic banks and Islamic financial institutions. The scope of this competition has grown in recent years to include almost every market, product, and service. In this highly competitive environment, Islamic banks need to formulate and implement successful marketing plans in which a key ingredient is a clear understanding of the behavior, attitudes, and perceptions of their customers.

In the coming years, infrastructure projects will provide Islamic finance with a major opportunity to join with conventional banking to meet global needs. The underlying principles of Islamic banking fit nicely with infrastructure project financing, where lenders share in the risks and rewards of a project and their returns are tied to the success of the venture.