Islamic finance principles may be a thousand years old but they have attracted the attention of the West only recently. Now business schools are offering specialist masters programmes on the subject.
While the world’s financial systems are shaken to their foundations, global stock markets tumble and thousands of bankers are made redundant, one area of finance goes from strength to strength. Islamic banking and finance principles may be a thousand years old but they have attracted the attention of Western financial services companies only recently. Now business schools are offering specialist masters programmes on the subject.
Islamic banking and finance must comply with Islamic law, or Sharia. This is governed by a number of fundamental principles and prohibitions and there are many differences from conventional finance.
“There is the absolute prohibition on the charging of interest,” says John Board, director of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) Centre, part of Henley Business School at Reading University. ICMA runs an MSc in investment banking and Islamic finance, taught jointly with the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance in Kuala Lumpur. “This leads to the question: how do you raise money in a way that is commercially sensible but does not involve paying interest?
http://ribh.wordpress.com/2008/12/07/uk-business-schools-offer-islamic-finance-masters-programmes/
