WORLD -OPINION - Islamic banks need mergers to fill Western funding hole - Mandiri Syariah a winner ?

www.dailystar.com.lb - LONDON: Small and medium-sized Islamic banks may need to merge if they want to become bigger regional players capable of filling the funding hole left by shrinking Western banks, the head of Islamic finance at Deutsche Bank, told Reuters.

"There are mismatch challenges," Salah Jaidah said on the sidelines of the Euromoney Islamic finance summit in London.

"Their size, their appetite for long term funding, their ability to finance at competitive pricing. I see this as a big challenge and not happening already now," he added. (source)