Wealth managers rue lack of Islamic finance talent

Islamic finance might be hot stuff in investment banking, retail banking and insurance, but it is being overlooked in the wealth management arena, and is facing a dearth of qualified staff to drive it forward.

The growth of Islamic finance in the GCC has been phenomenal. A recent conference on the sector said there was now more than $500bn in Sharia-compliant assets in the region, and this is tipped to expand by 10-15% a year.

But while the terms sukuk and takaful are now commonplace in the parlance of financial services, a lack of talent in the wealth management space is hampering further expansion.

Naveed Ahmad, head of wealth management at Dubai Islamic Bank, says there is a lack of Islamic property funds, private equity, mutual funds and sukuks in the secondary market, which means wealth managers find it hard to direct their clients' assets to the industry.

"Islamic banks have so far focused mainly on retail banking and investment banking - they ignored banking for high-net-worth individuals," he says.

Syed Qutub Ahmed, chief executive of Sharia-compliant banking software developer Apvision, compares the lack of talented staff to the futures market.

"When futures markets were developing, there weren't many people who knew what they were or how they worked. But when markets were created, they became common and everyone was using them. It's the same for Islamic banking."

One reason commonly cited for the staff shortage is a lack of dedicated Islamic finance degrees, though this seems to be changing.

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants now offers an Islamic qualification; Cass Business School runs an MBA in Islamic finance in Dubai, as does the International Institute of Islamic Finance.