Brunei has achieved a notable milestone, ranking 13th out of 136 countries globally in the Islamic Finance Development Report 2024: From Niche to Norm, marking its return to the top 15 rankings, according to the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB).

The report, based on 2023 data, highlights Brunei’s strong position in the Islamic finance industry, with an Islamic Finance Development Indicator (IFDI) score of 29 points.

The global average IFDI score also saw a rise, increasing from 9 points in 2023 to 12 in 2024, reflecting a positive trend in the development of the Islamic finance industry.

The IFDI measures the development of the Islamic finance industry across five key indicators: Financial Performance, Governance, Sustainability, Knowledge, and Awareness.

Malaysia and Saudi Arabia maintained their positions as the top two Islamic finance markets in 2023, while the United Arab Emirates secured third place, overtaking Indonesia.

Total global Islamic finance assets grew by 11 per cent, reaching USD4.9 trillion in 2023.

Sector growth in Islamic finance

The report highlighted strong performances across several key sectors: Islamic banking experienced a 12 per cent growth, reaching USD3.6 trillion in assets, with Afghanistan, Iraq, and Bahrain leading in growth rates.

The sukuk market increased by 9 per cent, driven by higher sovereign issuances, new market offerings, and a rise in green and sustainability sukuk issuances, bringing the total outstanding amount to USD863 billion.

The takaful sector achieved modest growth, reaching USD86 billion despite facing competition from conventional insurance options and monetary tightening pressures.

Islamic banking dominated the global Islamic finance asset distribution in 2023, holding a 73 per cent share, followed by sukuk (18 per cent), Islamic funds (5 per cent), other Islamic financial institutions (3 per cent), and takaful (2 per cent).

Brunei’s key achievements

Brunei demonstrated significant progress in key areas which are Governance where it maintained a perfect score for the Regulations sub-indicator, contributing to an overall Governance score increase from 59 points in 2023 to 71 points in 2024; Awareness and Sustainability with the Awareness indicator rose from 16 to 24 points, while sustainability improved from 13 to 14 points.

Takaful and Sukuk saw notable improvements in performance, while the country secured 10th place in the Assets of Other Islamic Financial Institutions (OIFI) sub-indicator under Financial Performance.

The IFDI forecasts total global Islamic finance assets to reach USD7.5 trillion by 2028, indicating sustained growth across the sector.