Deloitte has become the first of the Big Four accounting groups to appoint its own Shariah scholar in a bid to get a jump on its rivals in the rapidly dev-e-l--oping Islamic fi-n-ance market.

Islamic finance products account for about 2 per cent of the global financial services market, but with Muslims accounting for almost a quarter of the world's population, bankers expect the market to show double-digit growth for at least the next decade.