Islamic Finance and Economics

UK Bank Controversy Trains Light on Gulf Islamist Financing

August 09, 2019

The recent discovery that the UK’s largest Islamic bank is funding Islamist extremist groups in Europe and the US has trained a light on the risks of Arabian Gulf states’ backing of worldwide sharia-compliant/compatible financial entities.
Britain’s Largest Islamic Bank Has Links to Violent Extremists

August 05, 2019

Investigative reporting in the UK has revealed that Britain’s oldest and largest Islamic bank providing sharia compliant/compatible financial services, which is majority-owned by the Islamic theocratic regime of Qatar, has a client list that includes Islamist extremist organizations and terrorist groups.
Morocco Enacts Legislation for Sharia-Compliant Insurance

July 17, 2019

Morocco’s Parliament is moving forward on legislation to approve sharia-compliant insurance (Takaful) as part of the North African country’s expansion of its Islamic banking and finance industry.
British Officials Reiterate Commitment to Islamic Finance

July 10, 2019

Britain’s chief economic and financial officials are emphasizing their commitment, despite Brexit, to make the UK the West’s center for Islamic finance, with preparations to issue another sovereign debt offering of sharia-compliant bonds designed to take advantage of “the veritable force” that is global Islamic finance.
Report: Muslim Millennials Will Grow Islamic Banking

July 01, 2019

Thomson Reuters’ State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2018-19 predicts that Muslim millennials will be the key demographic drivers of strong expansion in the already $2.1-plus trillion global Islamic finance market.
OIC Targets Central Asia for Sharia Finance

June 17, 2019

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is taking measures to grow sharia financing as the bedrock of private sector expansion in the crucial geopolitical region of Central Asia.
Indonesian Government Pushes Digitization of Mosque Donations

May 29, 2019

The President of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, announced the government’s new strategy to digitize funding to the country’s mosques as a means of ramping up sharia-finance infrastructure development and growing the national market share of sharia-compatible banks.
OIC Brings Sharia Finance to Southeastern Europe

May 29, 2019

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is bringing Islamic finance to Southeastern Europe via Bosnia-Herzegovina with the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Saudi Arabia between the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector and Sarajevo-based Bosna Bank International.
Islamic Development Bank Expands OIC Influence

April 25, 2019

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) furthers its promotion of sharia law through its primary financing institution, the Islamic Development Bank and the associated International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, which recently announced the completion of $1.1 billion in trade, finance, and development deals across Eurasia, Africa, and South America.
Malaysia Is Growing International Hub for Islamic Finance

April 25, 2019

Thomson Reuter's newly released 2018 Islamic Financial Development Report cites Malaysia as a fast-growing international hub for sharia-compliant/compatible financial services.