Today, the sukuk market has become an important avenue for international fund raising and investment activities with the sukuk becoming a truly global product, generating significant cross-border financial flows. The internationalization of Islamic finance is also evidenced by the growing presence of Islamic financial institutions that now operate beyond their own jurisdictions and the increased number of international foreign financial institutions that offer Islamic financial products and services. Indeed, increasingly, Islamic finance has become part of the growth strategies of a growing number of the global financial players. In addition, the traditionally domestic-focused Islamic financial institutions are now venturing abroad. These developments have resulted in the increased international participation in Islamic financial markets. New horizons are also fast emerging, as seen by the concrete efforts for legislative  BIS Review 140/2010  1  and regulatory changes in several non-traditional markets to facilitate the introduction of Islamic finance in these markets. The rapid internationalization in Islamic finance has also been underpinned by the massive flow of knowledge, ideas, technology and people across borders, a process which fosters a greater international understanding on the practices in Islamic finance. This is taking place through the strong international cooperation in the area of human capital development and the development of global ancillary service providers that specialize in Islamic finance. This has resulted in the proliferation of programmes and certifications that focus on Islamic finance around the world and the development of Islamic indices, information repositories, and the provision of professional consultancy services.
In the process, they are systematically capturing the type of knowledge I used to gain from my daily interactions with customers in the bank branch. Some providers are leveraging this data to sell their customers non-bank products and services. This – and the desire to avoid regulation – reduces their incentive to integrate upstream to conventional banking. Traditional universal banking begins with the customer relationship – or what I used to have as a teller. This historic preserve of established financial institutions is now being opened up. Aggregators, making use of banks’ Application Programme Interfaces (APIs), are providing customers with ready access to price comparison and switching services. New pro-competition policies are reinforcing this competition. 3  Meanwhile so-called “robo advisors” are deploying algorithms to deliver affordable investment advice to retail customers. 3  The second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) will allow, conditional on FCA authorisation and customer authority, non-banks to access customers’ bank account data. In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority has required that the UK’s nine largest banks adopt an open banking standard for APIs by early 2018. 5  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  5  As customers become more willing to delegate decision-making to machines, their funds and loans are being better matched with the best rates from around the system. These flows could become seamless if public policy initiatives and new technologies combine to create digital credentials that are universal, durable and reliable.