(Gulf News, Dubai, 27 June 2016) Italy’s export credit agency SACE plans to move into Islamic finance, becoming one of the first Western trade finance bodies to do so, in order to support expansion of its business in the Middle East and North Africa. SACE insured €40.7 billion ($46.4 billion; Dh169.8 billion) of international risk at the end of last year, up 11.6 per cent from a year earlier. The Middle East and North Africa accounted for 14 per cent of the total, the largest fraction outside Italy. Around a quarter of banking business in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council is Sharia-compliant. Italy is also keen to develop business with Iran, where the entire banking system is designated Islamic, after the lifting of international sanctions on that country last January.
