NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

CIS region has significant potential for Islamic banking and finance industry which is rather untapped. Islamic banking and its products are likely to be most popular in the CIS countries comprising the highest concentration of Muslims. Islamic banking is also expected to become attractive in countries with significant population of Muslim business persons. Moving forward, expansion of Islamic banking and finance industry in CIS region is expected to bring the favorable turns in trade progress and business interactions with the Middle East. Islamic banking and finance can potentially play a part in facilitating more trade opportunities between CIS, Middle East and rest of the world with the involvement of more global and Islamic banks of both regions.