centres in the european continent. firstly, the supply of sharia - compliant finance products is still largely geographically constrained. the bulk of islam - compliant financial transactions take place in financial centres in the middle east, malaysia and – at european level – in london. consequently, it is difficult for the large number of muslims who live in continental europe, for example in france or germany, to access these services. german financial institutions ’ involvement in islamic finance has so far also largely been limited to these financial centres. there have been, and still are, initiatives – for example, by the federal state of saxony - anhalt and by commerzbank and deutsche bank – to establish halal finance products in germany as well. however, so far these efforts have had rather limited success. one reason for this brings me to the second aspect of why, in my opinion, a gap still exists between the supply of and demand for halal products : the products are still aimed at a limited target demographic. the bulk of islam - compliant financial products that are available outside traditional islamic states and the united kingdom are primarily aimed at wealthy private and institutional investors, mostly in the form of “ sukuks ”, also known as islamic bonds. hardly any services are aimed at the more middle - class muslim population of continental europe. thus for the approximately 3. 5 million muslims who make their home in germany, an estimated 15 - 20 % of whom have a keen interest in islam - compliant bank products, there are hardly any possibilities for financing homes or to invest their assets in accordance with the rules of their faith, while at the same time productively. although the above - average saving rate of muslims living in germany clearly indicates that market potential is waiting to be tapped, the investment products available to this target group are virtually inaccessible or not known. one explanation is that institutions that offer islam - compliant finance products in germany do not advertise these products. therefore, anyone who wants to invest in halal finance products in germany still has to explicitly ask for them at a bank. furthermore, since, as already mentioned, the products are almost exclusively aimed at very wealthy investors from islamic countries abroad and not at the german muslim population, the product information is mostly only written in english. above all, banks located in continental europe face the challenge of using attractive islam - compliant services – especially in the retail banking area – as well as target group - oriented marketing to tap the dormant capital of the muslim population. however, a flourishing islamic finance

##minbi by having an offshore market, which clearly sets the renminbi apart from other freely tradable currencies? the chinese government established the offshore renminbi market to expedite the transition from being a currency purely intended for trading to an investment currency. by taking this roundabout approach, china is able to establish its currency internationally and protect its domestic financial system at the same time, until the government deems the capital market to have sufficient breadth and depth for a complete liberalisation. from demand side, china ’ s growing economic importance and its manifold trade and investment relationships has led to a steadily growing need around the world for renminbi transactions. due to the capital controls still in place, the only opportunity to participate in the internationalisation of the renminbi is via the offshore market. offshore centres : opportunities for frankfurt as a financial centre in the past, the internationalisation of major currencies always coincided with the growth of a country ’ s economic power. in the 19th century, between 60 % and 90 % of international trade was conducted in british pounds. after the second world war, the us dollar overtook the pound as the most important investment and reserve currency. in 1999, the euro followed in the footsteps of european currencies and with that the deutsche mark. today, the euro is the second most important investment and reserve currency after the dollar. given china ’ s growing economic importance, the internationalisation of the renminbi seems long overdue. the chinese government has been actively promoting this process since 2009. the unique separation of the onshore and offshore currency market, in particular, will facilitate the transition from a currency purely intended for trade to an investment, and potentially, a reserve currency. the chinese government chose hong kong as the first offshore centre but limited the volume of liquidity allocated to the market. almost 80 % of offshore renminbi trade is currently settled in hong kong. 6 based on the positive experience to date, china plans to extend the currency ’ s offshore market. after the positive experiences with hong kong, other financial centres are now becoming more important for the renminbi, too. since july 2012, around 4 % of renminbi trade has been conducted both in london and in singapore. 7 singapore and taipei have both been strengthened by the appointment of a chinese commercial bank as a clearing bank for renminbi transactions in their respective financial centres. frankfurt, too, is trying to establish itself as a renminbi trading centre in europe