International Economic Forum Russia-Islamic World: Kazan Forum

More than 20 million Muslims can get access to Islamic finance instruments and make halal money transactions. In 2023, Russia passed a law on Islamic banking in the next two years, an experiment on its use in one of the largest countries in the world will take place.

The experiment on the introduction of Islamic banking in the regions of Russia will take place until September 2025, and the territory of the experiment may be expanded in the country.

Participants of the experiment may not set remuneration in the form of an interest rate when making transactions but will be able to set payments in the form of a variable amount depending on the results of these transactions.

They are also not allowed to finance activities related to the production of tobacco, alcoholic beverages, weapons, ammunition, and gambling.

It is assumed that the potential of the Islamic finance market in Russia is about $ 11 billion. This figure was mentioned by Anatoly Aksakov, Head of the State Duma Committee on Financial Market, at KazanForum 2023.

According to Nikolai Zhuravlev, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, made at KazanForum 2023, Islamic finance has emerged as an independent full-fledged sphere of the global financial market: more than 500 Islamic banking and financial organizations with total assets of more than $ 2 trillion operate in 105 countries.

Experts see in this the prospects for the development of partnership financing in Russia with the possible attraction of capital from friendly countries.

The experiment is operating in four regions of the Russian Federation, including the Republic of Tatarstan, which annually hosts the International Economic Forum Russia-Islamic World: KazanForum» with the participation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) states.

It was based on the results of expert international discussions at the Forum 2022 (KazanSummit 2022) that Russia decided to pilot the launch and legal regulation of the partnership financing mechanism in certain regions. 

See less