Qatar’s QInvest has advised on at $3.5bn-worth of Islamic bonds or sukuk issued during 2013, accounting for a fifth of the sukuk issuance recorded globally.

The bank is predicting increased investor and issuer appetite for sukuk in 2014, with the bank’s chief executive officer, Tamim Hamad al-Kawari, stating that Islamic finance could be a “much more mainstream product” in 2014.

During 2013, QInvest acted as the joint lead manager and bookrunner for the first sukuk issued by Qatari telecoms firm Ooredoo. It also worked on Turkey’s second sovereign sukuk as well as a $450m sukuk issued by Saudi Arabia-based developer Dar al-Arkan.

Michael Katounas, head of investment banking at QInvest told MEED in mid-December that QInvest will also look to develop other Islamic finance products outside the sukuk market over the next year.

“There is quite a lot of innovation, we are putting together hybrid structures,” he says.