Juan Solé
Juan Solé since 2003 has worked as an Economist for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in several of its departments, including the Middle East and Central Asia Department and the Monetary and Capital Markets Department. His current work focuses on financial stability issues, monetary and exchange rate policies, and Islamic finance. Previously, he was an Associate Analyst in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Economics from the University of Minnesota, and an M.Sc. in Economics and Finance from CEMFI (Center for Monetary and Financial Studies, Spain). He is also a holder of the Islamic Finance Qualification (IFQ) from the Securities and Investment Institute (U.K.), and is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management.
Papers Published in World Economics:
Trends and Challenges in Islamic Finance
The paper first discusses the current trends in Islamic finance, which has become mainstream with currently more than US$800 billion of assets worldwide and a buoyant market for sukuk bonds. However, this exorbitant growth raises many challenges, particularly in the areas of banking, capital markets and regulation. Thus, the paper then considers these challenges, notably the economic and legal bottlenecks of sukuk, banking-specific issues, such as liquidity risk management and business models, as well as disharmonized financial regulation. Despite the challenges, the paper concludes that the Islamic finance industry has a bright future.
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