Why Study Islamic Banking and Finance?

Islamic banking is now one of the fastest growing sectors of the financial market place, largely driven by the new wealth of the Middle East and by the need for Muslims, representing one-fifth of the worlds population, to find islamically acceptable financial products.

At the centre of the demand for expertise in Islamic financing lies the long term wealth represented by the future oil and gas earnings of the Middle East. The oil and gas reserves for several of the large Middle East countries are conservatively estimated to last for well over 100 years, a figure which is being continuously revised upwards. The wealth of the region is increasingly being channelled into Islamically structured financing.

Islamic financial institutions currently operate in more than 75 countries with assets exceeding US$ 800 billion. This represents a 65 fold growth rate since 1982. However Islamic finance, based as it is on the fact that financial activities have to be interest free, poses many challenges for anyone seeking to unravel its workings.

Despite the rapid growth the pace at which Islamic banking and finance training courses are being developed, to match this growth in demand, is slow, very slow, with the availability of world class quality training in the subject area lagging far behind that of demand.

The training courses listed below are designed to break through the mysteries and complexities of what, to an outsider, can sometimes be seen as a myriad of puzzling banking principles.