Conventional and Islamic Banking Proved Not So Dissimilar

Thursday, 8th January 2004

	Conventional and Islamic Banking Proved Not So Dissimilar

	The development of a comprehensive legal framework related to Project Finance and Asset Securitization will help to promote Islamic banking, and most importantly encourage the transformation of conventional banking into Islamic banking. Reza Adirahman Djojosugito of the Islamic Development Bank of Jeddah underlined the matter while delivering a paper outlining the legal aspects of asset securitization and project finance in Indonesia. Mr. Djojosugito outlined the similarities		between conventional and Islamic banking, especially in the case of Project Finance and Asset Securitization. This fact opens up the possibility of a convergence between conventional and Islamic banking. Bearing in mind that the Islamic banking market has crossed the 100 million US dollar threshold, and that the Muslim world constitutes twenty percent of the world’s population with ten percent of the global GDP, it is fair to expect that conventional banking would want a share of this market.