Islamic Finance in Maghreb: Which Model? Which Issues? A Study of the Determinants of Islamic Banking Services in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

The development of Islamic finance in the Maghreb countries faces today the question of the existence of a potential pool of customers. In fact, the population is apparently very sensitive to the religious argument regarding savings and financing. In addition, the population is still underbanked. The banking rate is only 30% on average in the region. The articulation between Islamic finance and retail banking in the Maghreb is therefore obvious. Some Islamic Gulf banks could perfectly consider geographic diversification and thus penetrate the retail banking market in the Maghreb countries.

However, the establishment of Islamic finance in the Maghreb should be very gradual. The Maghreb banking authorities will have to find a balance between the social demand for this kind of banks and the competition of these entrants in territories already occupied by conventional local banks which are not very aggressive. We first present an overview of Islamic finance in each of the Maghreb countries. We then examine the determinants of demand for Islamic banking services, taking Mauritania as an example. The latter, whose official name is "Islamic Republic of Mauritania" is undoubtedly one of the most advanced countries in the Maghreb in this area.