The academic study of Middle East banking has developed alongside the institutions with which it is concerned. The German-language monograph Die Bedeutung des Bankensystems im wirtschaftlichen Wachstumsprozess Syriens (The Importance of the Banking System in Syria's Economic Growth Process) by Ahmad Talaat Said is an exemplar of contemporary studies of banking and the latter's impacts on economy in the Middle East. Said approaches the study of banking from historiographical, sociological and economic perspectives.

In these images, Said offers fellow scholars essential data in the form of the central bank's balance sheet. He also zooms in on commercial banks and their contribution to Syria's economic development.