Islamic Finance and Economics

S&P Examines No-Deal Brexit’s Islamic Finance Impact

February 20, 2019

Highlighting the growing importance of Islamic finance in the global marketplace, Standard & Poor (S&P) has published research indicating that a no-deal Brexit will have minimal effects on the global Islamic finance industry, whose assets are on pace to reach $3.2 trillion by 2020.
Iran Launches Islamic Cryptocurrency to Evade US Sanctions

February 06, 2019

Iran’s Islamic Republic announced the launch of an Islamic gold-backed cryptocurrency in an effort to use blockchain technology to minimize the effects of US economic sanctions on Iran and to leverage Islamic cryptocurrencies to break the dominance of the US dollar in international financial markets.
UK, Malaysia Lead Efforts Toward Islamic Finance Literacy

January 03, 2019

Thomson Reuters has identified the UK and Malaysia as the leading providers of Islamic finance knowledge, including diverse forms of education aimed at competitive advantage in the rapidly growing sharia-compatible financial services market currently estimated at $1.7 trillion in assets.
Australia’s Islamic Banking Superfund Targets Millennials, Non-Muslims

January 03, 2019

Managers of Australia’s largest Islamic pension superfund are targeting millennials and non-Muslims to drive exponential growth predictions in the next five years.
NGO Partners on Launching Sharia Microfinance in Ethiopia

January 03, 2019

The US-based nongovernmental organization Meecy Corps is partnering with a UK-based Islamic finance consultancy to augment delivery of emergency and humanitarian aid in Ethiopia by launching sharia-compliant/compatible finance targeted at encouraging banking and microfinance for the African country’s Muslim communities.
Gulf States See FinTech as Next Step in Expansion of Sharia Finance

January 03, 2019

Arab Gulf Islamic regimes see FinTech - blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and other digitized technologies for financial services - as the new frontier in the regional and global expansion of the sharia-compliant/compatible financial industry.
OIC Bank Seeks Spread of Islamic Finance Through Blockchain

January 03, 2019

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Islamic Development Bank Group is developing financial technology tools customized for sharia compliance, seeking to use blockchain and cryptocurrency for more rapid globalization of sharia compliant/compatible banking and finance.
Swiss Firm Becomes Sharia-Compliant

December 14, 2018

A major player in the Swiss cryptocurrency ecosystem has secured Islamic certification of its digital currency as sharia-compliant and announced plans to launch a crypto exchange endorsed by Bahrain’s Sharia Review Board.
UAE Firm Prepares to Launch Islamic Crypto Exchange

December 13, 2018

A firm based in the United Arab Emirates has announced plans for a 2019 launch of a sharia-compliant crypto-currency exchange, a move designed to bring crypto currency into the rapidly growing Islamic finance market whose current global assets are estimated to grow from $2.2 trillion in 2018 to $3.8 trillion in 2022.
Islamic Bank Plans Bonds for Social Responsibility, Block Chain

December 10, 2018

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the multilateral financing arm of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), has announced work with the International Sharia Research Academy for Islamic Finance, to design sharia-compliant bonds marketed as socially conscious finance, aiming at retail investors and utilizing block-chain technology.