Category: Finance
Unique IT Services in Islamic Finance and Key Players
In the last 25 year, Islamic banking practice has progressed tremendously. The past two and a half decades, serious research done, has established that Islamic banking is a viable and efficient way of financial intermediation. Several Islamic banks have been established during this period under mixed, social and economic settings. Recently, many conventional banks, including [...]
Islamic Banking – a golden opportunity for European banks
It is a fact that there are sufficient Muslim investors and borrowers in both Islamic and non-Islamic countries to warrant the attention of traditional banks that seek to serve such clients and capture a potentially profitable slice of a still relatively untapped market. This is corroborated by the growth of Islamic finance in the US, [...]
Harvard Islamic Finance Forum: An Outsider’s View on Islamic Finance
Islamic finance is, in the words of many of its practitioners and observers, one of the more exciting things happening to the Muslim World today. Many view it as a test case – a potential experimental ground – for how Islam’s Divine Law – the Shariah – is likely to mingle with or adapt to [...]
2nd Gulf Venture Capital Forum Builds Industry Momentum
At the recent annual gathering of the Gulf Venture Capital Association in March – a who’s who of investors with interests in finding the next stellar start-up and leading entrepreneurs from the GCC gathered to network and discuss the growing prominence of Venture Capital and Private Equity in the region. Venture Capital seems to be [...]
Questioning “Shari’ah Conversion Technology”: Yusuf Talal Delorenzo
Innovation is a cornerstone of the financial markets. Without the development of securitization, derivatives, and other complex financial instruments it’s safe to argue that it would be impossible to fuel the growth of the global economy. Since the growing Islamic Finance industry exists as a subset of the global financial system there is always a [...]
“Sovereign Wealth Funds” not “Sub-Prime” Marked 2007
“Sovereign Wealth Funds” should have been the words of 2007, not “sub-prime” as reported in many newspapers at the end of the year! The above was the heading of my New Years message and prompted quite a few enquiries requesting information as to “What are Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF)?”. My answer has to be–they are [...]
Opportunities in Islamic Private Equity
Mr. David Rubenstein, founder of the worlds largest private equity firm The Carlyle Group, has in his many industry presentations cited Christopher Columbus (the famous early voyager to the Americas) as a first in Private Equity! To fund his voyage to discover the “new world,” Columbus pitched his plans to Queen Isabel of Castille for [...]
Islamic Finance Gaining Traction in the U.S.
Most news in the Islamic Finance sector invariably comes from one of a number of Muslim majority countries where Islamic Finance is a major part of the financial infrastructure such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, or Malaysia. There is relatively less recognition for the fact that there are major Muslim consumer markets in non-Muslim [...]
Islamic Finance in Europe Moves from Niche to Mainstream
Upcoming International Islamic Finance Forum highlights boom in European interest in Sukuk market. Islamic finance has moved from niche to mainstream in Europe with western banks and institutions increasingly recognising Islamic instruments as viable financing options. Within Europe, both the UK and Switzerland have become world centres for the development of Islamic finance in a [...]
