Islamic finance in Russia: Evidence from market participants

Abstract

Based on expert interviews, the factors limiting the development of the Islamic finance market in Russia, the competitiveness and target audience of Islamic finance, as well as their future and dissemination model in the Russian economy are investigated. The interviews were conducted with the heads of banks, funds, Islamic finance and the managers of consulting companies. The paper focuses on how the participants and organizers of the Russian market themselves understand the phenomenon of Islamic finance. It is shown that the Islamic financial services in Russia are in demand and competitive. But the scaling of this business requires additional capital (liquidity). In turn, access to capital for the development of the sector can be provided by attracting a large strategic investor (principal) represented by a bank or financial-industrial group.