The Challenge of Islamic Finance

From its humble beginnings in the 1990s, Islamic finance has become a trillion US dollar industry. The market consensus is that Islamic finance has a bright future due to favourable demographics and rising incomes in the Muslim community. Moreover, despite voices sceptical of an accommodation between Islamic and global finance, leading global banks are buying Islamic bonds and forming subsidiaries specially to conduct Islamic finance business. Special laws have been passed in non-Muslim financial centres, - London, Singapore and Hong Kong - to facilitate the operation of Islamic banks and associated financial institutions.