Islamic and conventional credit cards - Assignment Example

The increased demand is not only from clients need for differentiated products but also from corporations who want to carry out all financial dealings in conformity with Sharia laws. The increasing populations of Muslim countries will additionally propel the demand for Sharia - compliant financial services. Many Muslim nations have young populaces, with more than 60% of the citizens under the age of 21 years, in addition to annual population growth rates of more than 5%. Many conservative banks currently are also engaging in the Islamic Banking market due to its intrinsic feature of minimal exposure to operational risk.

Islamic banking, because of its strict Sharia submission norms, can help clients decrease the risks related to interest based debt bankrolling that plagued conservative banks especially during the recent financial crisis that hit the mortgage market. In terms of supply, the main underlying principle of development in Islamic banking is the swelling amount of financial services establishments giving Sharia compliant business solutions. Along with the new Islamic banking institutions that are being designed, there is a developing tendency among current conventional banking institutions to transform their processes to become compliant with Sharia laws.

With mounting business rivalries in their home markets, some Islamic banking institutions in the Middle East have begun to multiply globally, with a preliminary attention to Africa and Asia. This amplified rivalry was leading to fresh advanced products being availed to the markets, therefore, rendering Islamic banking more enticing. The initial phases of growth in Islamic banking contend with the concept construction where Sharia specialists examined whether the interest those banks charged was similar to riba.

Before 1950s, Muslims were not officially engaging the banking services; so, they did not have any information about bank interest (Shaikh n.d). A few years