Islamic Finance and Economics

Islamic Banks Attract Unbanked with Lottery-Linked Payments

April 22, 2019

The latest trend in Islamic banking is the use of lottery-linked savings accounts to attract the large unbanked sectors of the Muslim populations in the Middle East and Asia.
London Mosque Invites Cryptocurrency Donations

March 14, 2019

A London mosque has announced that it will begin accepting cryptocurrency donations to support mosque renovations and programs for the poor, opening the door for UK mosques to develop a sharia-compliant blockchain economy.
Qatar Hosts Islamic Finance Conference on Digital Tech

March 14, 2019

The Islamic monarchy of Qatar is hosting the 5th annual Doha Islamic Finance Conference, with more than 1200 representatives from 22 countries gathering to discuss how Islamic banks can grow their global customer base by adopting financial technology applications, including by expanding sharia-compliant blockchain technologies.
Chinese Initiative Bolsters Sharia Finance in Eurasia

March 13, 2019

The impact of sharia-compliant finance across Eurasia continues to grow through funding of an increasing number of infrastructure and development projects under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, in which almost half of the participant countries are Muslim-majority and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation member states.
Sharia Finance Expands into New York Housing Market

March 07, 2019

Sharia-compliant lending deals have been slowly expanding in the US housing market, with a recent example in the purchase of student housing complex near the University of Buffalo by a Florida-based firm and an unidentified Middle East investor.
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.