TY - BOOK ID - 84874336 TI - Can Islamic Banking Increase Financial Inclusion? AU - Ben Naceur, Sami. AU - Barajas, Adolfo. AU - Massara, Alexander. PY - 2015 SN - 1498364586 1498305695 PB - Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, DB - UniCat KW - Banks and banking KW - Banks and banking, Islamic KW - Islamic banks and banking KW - Non-interest banks, Islamic KW - Religious aspects KW - Islam. KW - Banks and Banking KW - Finance: General KW - Money and Monetary Policy KW - Industries: Financial Services KW - Islamic Banking and Finance KW - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy KW - Monetary Policy KW - Economic Development: Financial Markets KW - Saving and Capital Investment KW - Corporate Finance and Governance KW - Other Economic Systems: Public Economics KW - Financial Economics KW - Financial Institutions and Services: Government Policy and Regulation KW - Banks KW - Depository Institutions KW - Micro Finance Institutions KW - Mortgages KW - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit: General KW - Banking KW - Finance KW - Monetary economics KW - Islamic banking KW - Financial inclusion KW - Financial services KW - Credit KW - Financial markets KW - Money KW - Commercial banks KW - Financial institutions KW - Islamic countries KW - Financial services industry KW - Saudi Arabia UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:84874336 AB - The paper analyses existing country-level information on the relationship between the development of Islamic banking and financial inclusion. In Muslim countries—members of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC)—various indicators of financial inclusion tend to be lower, and the share of excluded individuals citing religious reasons for not using bank accounts is noticeably greater than in other countries; Islamic banking would therefore seem to be an effective avenue for financial inclusion. We found, however, that although physical access to financial services has grown more rapidly in the OIC countries, the use of these services has not increased as quickly. Moreover, regression analyis shows evidence of a positive link to credit to households and to firms for financing investment, but this empirical link remains tentative and relatively weak. The paper explores reasons that this might be the case and suggests several recommendations to enhance the ability of Islamic banking to promote financial inclusion. ER -