Islamic finance wants to benefit from the crisis

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One of the most influential Moslem theologists in the world, Youssef Al Qaradaoui, is persuaded of it: the current financial crisis proves all the relevance of Islamic finance. “The collapse of the capitalist system founded on wear and the paper and not on the exchange of goods shows that Islamic economic philosophy is held”, declared, on October 12 in Doha, that which was in the years 1970 one of the first promoters of Islamic finance.

Under the terms of these principles, the Islamic banks theoretically did not put on the subprimes, these mortgage credits at the risk at the origin of the current crisis. “But, nuance Ibrahim Zeyyad Cekici, teacher-researcher at the School of management of Strasbourg, which launches in January the first French university formation devoted to Islamic finance, these risky mortgage credits were titrisés, often resold in the form of derivative products on the financial markets, and one does not know yet with exactitude which invested. It is necessary to await the publication of the financial results to precisely know the consequences of this crisis on Islamic finance.”

“This sector, which weighs up to 1.000 billion dollars (765 billion euros), constitutes a water drop in the worldwide economy, and its actors evolve/move in an inter-connected world”, specifies Mohammed Boulif, consulting in Islamic finance, based in Brussels. It stresses that the Islamic banks of the countries of the Gulf invested the money of oil in real credits or Western companies, which in their turn are touched by the crisis.

GROWTH OF 10% TO 15% PER ANNUM

Carried by a strong demand, Islamic finance knows a growth of 10% to 15% per annum, and offers it its financial products develops at an intensive pace. A racing considered to be too fast by certain experts. “While wanting to go too quickly, Islamic finance tends to create “Islamic” products imitating makes the conventional products of them”, notes Mr. Boulif.

Theologists were moved some, estimating recently that “the majority of the sukuk (Islamic certificates) were not in conformity with the Islamic law”. “The sharia board (inspection committee) of the AAOIFI (Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions) redefined more rigorous conditions of the Islamic legality of these sukuks”, points out Mr. Cekici.

In spite of these limits, finance Islamic, famous more ethical, more interdependent and more ecological, could benefit from “the crisis of confidence from the private individuals and investors in the conventional financial system”, judges Jean-Paul Laramée, managing director of Secure France, specialist in the subject.

Its success near the Moslem minorities of the European countries fits moreover in an identity context of asserted posting, as well as the consumption of products hallal. In France, conferences and formations on Islamic finance multiply. And, in May, a report/ratio of the Senate admitted it like a stake of development of the years to come.