Gulf Daily News: Crisis fallout on Islamic finance to be reviewed

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he impact of the credit crunch on Islamic finance will be discussed at a unique UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) roundtable debate at the 16th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC), being held next month in Bahrain. The discussion, to be broadcast live via the Internet, will feature Bank of London and the Middle East chief executive officer Humphrey Percy, KPMG director Islamic Finance & Investments Darshan Bijur, London Stock Exchange product manager and debt and secutities specialist Gillian Walmsley, Gatehouse Bank chief executive officer Richard Thomas and Simmons & Simmons partner and head of Islamic finance Muneer Khan. "The UK's position as a key western centre for Islamic finance is unrivalled," said UKTI chief executive officer Andrew Cahn. "The growth of the sector in London and the UK demonstrate the UK's commitment to developing strong global partnerships with regional neighbours from the Gulf to southeast Asian Islamic finance centres."

There are 22 banks offering Islamic finance services in London, and five that are fully Sharia-compliant, more than in any other Western country.

The Media Line: The Muslim World and the Global Financial Crisis - by Terry Lacey

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The Muslim World and the Global Financial Crisis - by Terry Lacey

By the time a new President is elected the United States will be a different country in a different world. There will be no going back and no return to business as usual. What began as the sub-prime housing market crash has become a generalized banking crash, leading to a world financial crisis, and then into a world economic recession. There is no avoiding the impact of this series of financial and economic downturns and the associated stock market crashes and wild currency fluctuations. However for the developing economies of Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, and even for Africa, these changes represent new opportunities as well as short-term problems. These events are symbolic of a changing global balance of power where the United States and Europe have to adjust to the rising economic power of Asia, the Middle East and the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China). This is a crisis of capitalism and even the greatest advocates of the free market are forced to face reality that when capitalism fails it has to be bailed out by the state. It is capitalist when it goes up and socialist when it comes down.

This does not mean, as suggested by the Indonesian Vice President Kalla, that sharia banking can suddenly present the comprehensive alternative to capitalism. The reality is that so far Islamic finance has been very integrated into global capitalist structures, with little emphasis on extending the more radical and unique profit and loss sharing concepts to poorer Muslims in poorer countries.