Islamic Banking Moving Towards a Pragmatic Approach?

Abstract

Islamic banking has developed from its early experiments of the 1960s into a major force in the Islamic world, with assets of more than 100 billion dollars, and is still growing rapidly. Today it is not difficult to find an Islamic bank or an Islamic branch of a conventional bank in many Islamic countries. Responding to the needs of their Muslim clientele, some major Western international banks have set up their own Islamic branches as well. Even in Australia, the relatively small Muslim community has managed to set up its own financial institution. This is equally true for a number of other Western countries such as the USA.