Nonetheless it makes it much harder for Islamic financial institutions to operate on a crossborder basis. The result has been that Islamic financial institutions have had a predominantly domestic focus and have not been able to achieve the scale economies that might make them viable competitors to conventional institutions which do enjoy these benefits.
The lack of economies of scale also increases the costs of Islamic financial products and thus ultimately the cost to the consumer. The International Islamic Financial Market (IIFFM), which is based in Bahrain, has been at the forefront of attempts to develop standardised Islamic financial contracts.