Over the year, KPMG provided assurance and advisory services to more than 65 Islamic financial institutions in the UK and Europe, the GCC, Asia-Pacific, South Asia, North America and Africa. The firm promoted Islamic finance in new markets as diverse as Russia, Africa, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
In the GCC, it advised the regulators and tax authorities in Oman on issues arising from the sultan’s directive to allow the country’s first standalone Islamic bank and allow other banks to set up Islamic finance divisions in Oman. KPMG advised the Central Bank of Nigeria and the government of South Africa on enabling and encouraging Islamic finance in those countries.
It has advised clients on how best to build on the growth potential for Islamic finance in North Africa following the Arab Spring. It has advised individual banks including in Azerbaijan on the establishment of new Islamic finance windows, while the firm has won new mandates, particularly in Malaysia and the Middle East, to review banks’ existing Islamic finance business models.
