In an article in the Syracuse Post Standard, Chinki Sinha writes that loans acceptable to Muslims becoming more common. The article mentions large financial institutions joining the fray of providers of Islamically acceptable loans, including Citibank and HSBC. Smaller institutions have been offering it for some time, like MSI Financial Services, American Finance House, and Guidance Financial Group.
University Bank in Ann Arbor, Michigan has signed a Master Purchase Agreement with Freddie Mac for Sharia complian Home Acquisition loans.
The deal is worth $100 million.
You can read the press release.
Another article covering how banks are catering for Muslim financial and investment needs.
It mentions Saturna (the company that offers the Amana Mutual Fund), as well as Guidance Financial Group, University Bank's Islamic subsidiary, and the Dow Jones Islamic Markets Index.
Read the article at the Washington Times.
Dow Jones Indexes and SAM Group launched a new index that merges Islamic investing principles and sustainability criteria by combining the methodology of the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes and Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.
Read the article at the Houston Chronicle.
Yet another article on Islamic banking in the USA covering the recent cases of banks offering services to Muslims.
Stephanie Murray writes in Ann Arbor News on Banking Islam-Style: Without Interest.
Another news article about how niche banks serving the financial needs of Muslims are thriving.
More than two years ago, University Bank in Ann Arbor, Michigan started offering banking products that are Muslim friendly.
Now, the bank has formed University Islamic Financial Corp., a subsidiary that focuses solely on serving Muslims' financial needs. The bank will operate in a 100% Shariah compliant way.
Moreover, the bank plans to offer mortgage alternative loan transactions (MALTs) nationwide.
The bank also offers deposit accounts.
As we detailed in our Mutual Funds article, investing based on religious beliefs or ethical convictions is not limited to Muslims.
This MSNBC article shows that the Amana Growth Fund has topped the chart among funds run for Mennonites, Evangelicals and Catholics.
In this season where consumerism causes many in the West to spend beyond their means, USA Today has an article on how products and services catering specifically to Muslims are on the rise.
Although it is a welcome trend to have things such as Islamic mortgage for buying homes or Halal food for the table, it seems that a few products do promote consumerism to Muslims.
For example, Fulla, an Islamic Barbie, and Mecca Cola, a soft drink.
Newsweek/MSNBC has an article titled How the West Came to Run Islamic Banks.
It discusses why Western banks are engaging in Islamic Banking, and attributes the reason to lack of credible and trustworthy local alternatives in the Muslim world.
An interesting read.
