International sukuk (Islamic finance) issuances in Europe 2001-2018
In recent years, some European countries have started to adopt Sharia-compliant banking to reach out to their Muslim communities. Luxembourg was the first European country to issue a sovereign sukuk on its own, due to the country's legal structures. In 2016, London was the leading center for Islamic finance in Western Europe. In comparison to Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Bahrain and Pakistan it was still relatively small though.