Potential customers waiting outside the Emaar Sales Centre in Downtown Dubai. Emaar Properties on Saturday launched the sale of residences in The Hills on a first-registered, first-served basis. The development will stand out for its spectacular golf-course views and a focus on a greener lifestyle through several energy and water efficiency initiatives. — KT photo by Rahul Gajjar
It recently showcased the emirate’s expertise and resources in the two Canadian cities across a series of seminars conducted with the support of the Canadian Embassy in the UAE and the provincial governments of Ontario and British Columbia.
The seminars were part of Dubai Exports’ activities to promote the service sector in the emirate to global markets and follow on from similar activities conducted in Australia, Indonesia, France and Germany. The seminars, jointly organised by Dubai Exports and Canadian legal firm Borden Ladner Gervais, focused on encouraging linkages between Islamic financial and advisory firms in Dubai and their counterparts in Canada.
Participants in the seminar also discussed the changes required in Canada’s taxation and regulatory system to enable Islamic financial products to be treated at par with conventional financial products.
“As the leaders and pioneers in the sector with the first recognised Islamic bank, the first Islamic stock exchange, most number of Islamic bonds, or sukuks, listed and the largest ever sukuk issued, our firms have the required expertise to channel this sector in Canada,” DED director-general Sami Al Qamzi said.
“Canada, with a Muslim population of about 1.3 million, or 3.2 per cent of the population, is an attractive market for Dubai’s Islamic financial firms. It is estimated that the annual household purchasing power of Canadian Muslims is in excess of Dh11.7 billion. Islamic fnance is not only limited to Muslims but is also popular among non-Muslims as is the case in Dubai,” Dubai Exports chief executive officer Sa’ed Al Awadi said.
Statistics show that global Islamic banking assets have grown approximately 10 per cent annually from the mid-1990s when they were about $150 billion. Today, global Islamic financial assets stand at approximately $800 billion.
Industry experts claim that over the next decade the sector may reach $4 trillion. In fact, some areas of Islamic finance, such as insurance or takaful, has been doubling in size each year since 2002.
The growth of Islamic financial services is being driven by growing Islamic populations, which also enjoy a rapid rise in purchasing power, due to better education and employment opportunities.
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