Can Islamic Banking Increase Financial Inclusion?

Some Muslims may avoid formal banking relationships to keep from running afoul of Sharia, so the growing Islamic financial sector would seem a likely vehicle through which to serve currently unbanked Muslim consumers and businesses. But according to economists Sami Ben Naceur, Adolfo Barajas and Alexander Massara, there’s little evidence of a correlation between Islamic banking and Muslims’ financial inclusion. While its topic is weighty, the report suffers from a somewhat muddled and disorganized presentation. Nonetheless, getAbstract recommends it to bankers and economists for its insights into the Muslim world’s complicated relationship with banking.