December 7, 2013

finance expert: Asia, GCC, Africa real areas of econmic growth –> | By Nawab Khan BRUSSELS , Dec 7 (KUNA) — An European financial expert is advising economic and financial professionals and advisors in the West to “put your Islamic spectacles on” as most of the emerging countries are predominantly Muslim. “Most of the emerging countries are homogenously or partially Muslim countries. In 2030, a third of World’s population will be Muslim, 65 percent of the Muslims are Asians,” said Professor Laurent Marliere , chief executive of the Brussels -based ISFIN, and Islamic finance lawyers firm and leading advisors to Islamic markets. “So if you combine in a global overview, which markets have the needs and assets to invest, you realize that the real areas of growth are Asia , Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Africa . These regions will not only experience growth locally, they now have huge amount of liquidities to invest,” he told the Kuwait news agency, KUNA, in an interview. “These investments occur on a global scale and sovereign funds for instance go shopping in Europe or in America. The most developed hubs like Dubai , Abu Dhabi , Doha or Kuala Lumpur tend to attract market shares from the West,” he noted. ” Africa is currently going through an important process of Islamization. The conventional industry has clearly understood these trends and has started developing an “Islamic capacity” also called a “Halal capacity,” explained the Belgian professor of marketing. “Professionals and advisors have not yet anticipated what is becoming the world’s fastest growing area of world industry. The Halal industry is there to stay. The investment power from the Muslim world, boosted by the high energy prizes, is there to stay, ” he stressed. “Law, accounting and auditor firms, financial advisors will realize this when their clients will ask them to operate with that Islamic capacity. For some firms, it will be too late and they will lose market shares to more innovative firms,” he opined. Marliere pointed out to the recent survey by Goldman Sachs which identified 11 countries that could rival the G7 over time and present interesting growth stories. The N-11 include Bangladesh , Egypt , Indonesia , Iran , Korea , Mexico , Nigeria , Pakistan , Philippines , Turkey and Vietnam . With the exception of Korea , Mexico and Vietnam , the N-11 are all predominantly Islamic markets or at least markets with a substantial Muslim population, he said. He said that ISFN is an entrepreneurial project dedicated to facilitating the exchange of business and legal consultancy in the Islamic world. “The real challenge when dealing with the Muslim world or when dealing with the Western world is not the technicality, it is the cultural gap,” he underlined. “In 28 months of existence, we have become the world leader in the supply of legal advice to the Halal industry. We are now expanding to new sectors: Audit Accounting, Banking, Wealth, Real Estate,” added Marliere. (end) nk.mt KUNA 071547 Dec 13NNNN All KUNA right are reserved

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