eFinancialCareers

If you fancy a safe bet this year, move into Islamic finance – business is booming and experience of the sector isn't essential.

Islamic banks in the GCC have emerged virtually unscathed from the US sub-prime crisis. It helps that collateralised debt obligations, high risk mortgages, and other unfathomably complex investment vehicles are incompatible with Sharia law. Plus business is booming.

“Many of these conventional products that have been under stress lately are very complex and need special risk management tools,” Rasheed al-Maraj, governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, said at the Reuters Islamic Finance Summit last week.

“In Islamic banking, you will not have this kind of thing. Some of these products would not be Sharia compliant.”

HSBC’s global Islamic financial services arm, HSBC Amanah, told Reuters that it expects revenues in the sector to grow by at least 60% over the next few years, driven by demand from Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

At the same time, Dubai is doing its best to come out on top in the rush to pile into Islamic finance. The Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) has unveiled plans to create an Islamic finance hub, to take advantage of the “demography and geography” of the region, according to Nasser Al Shaali, CEO of the DIFC.

Both international and Islamic banks are making moves to hire bankers. And the good news is, you don’t have to be a sukuk supremo to work in the area, as most products are vetted by an in-house Sharia scholar or committee.

Alex Cormack, director Middle East, at recruiters Sheffield Haworth, says: “What Islamic banks look for are bankers who know how to originate business and run deals, and Western markets are tapped for this. It’s the Western or top-tier investment banks that have to hire in the Islamic banking expertise.”

Russell Adams, managing director of recruiter Akamai in Dubai, adds: “Islamic institutions are looking for people for investment banking, debt financing and asset management roles. They want people with exposure to developed markets who can then tailor their products within the Islamic wrapper.”

What about pay? Cormack reckons Islamic banks generally try to match previous packages from Western institutions, but the real money is to be had when individuals gain a track record and reputation within the Islamic finance sphere.

What’s more, Deutsche Bank has tipped hedge funds that comply with Muslim law to take off in the latter part of 2008, thanks to demand from ultra high-net-worth individuals.

Globally, assets of Islamic financial institutions are estimated at $500bn.