SHANEEN PASHADUBAI: Islamic trade finance has benefited from shifting preferences toward Shari'ah-compliant banking and could serve as one of the key growth drivers to help the nearly $1 trillion Islamic finance industry double in size. The global Islamic finance industry, which has been growing between 15 to 20 percent a year, is widely expected to reach $2 trillion in the next three to five years. While Islamic banking and Islamic bonds, or sukuk, are expected to lead growth, bankers say Islamic trade finance could serve as the dark horse emerging to propel the industry further. Trade finance, the lifeblood of global commerce, underpins 60-80 percent of the $12-13 trillion trade in global merchandise and practitioners say it is safer than other forms of lending. Total trade finance among the 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which includes Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Turkey, is expected to reach $4 trillion by 2012, said Mohamad Nedal Alchaar, secretary-general of the Accounting & Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI). “(Islamic finance) could tap 20 percent of the total trading financing, that's very reasonable,” Alchaar said, adding that while the current Islamic trade finance market remains fragmented and non-competitive, there has been a shift towards pushing trade finance among Islamic practitioners. Part of the increased interest in Islamic trade finance is that the Islamic finance industry, which prohibits interest, has matured and can provide complicated instruments, such as Shari'ah-compliant hedging products to protect trade transactions, said Yakub Bobat, global head of HSBC Amanah commercial banking. “If you don't have access to Islamic hedging, there will be a currency conversion impact. In the absence of those solutions, people go for conventional,” Bobat said. “But the proposition is now complete and you can now use Islamic hedges for trade transactions.” Bobat said such innovations in the industry will help persuade people inclined toward Shari'ah-compliant business to opt for Islamic trade finance over conventional forms. In Islamic trade finance, a bank will provide a letter of credit, guaranteeing import payments using its own funds, for a client based on sharing the profit from the sale of the item. But some banks are still wary of providing Islamic trade finance services, citing it as more costly and time consuming. In addition, some see little difference between conventional and Islamic trade finance as both are fee-based products, resulting in lower demand for the Islamic product. Changing that view will be key for the industry, said Shabir Randeree, chairman of the European Islamic Investment Bank.
