Islamic Capital Markets: Structures And Innovations

© Bloomberg 2008. Originally published by Bloomberg Finance L.P. Reprinted by permission

There has been much activity and discussion about Islamic capital markets in the financial press in the past few years. It is common to read about Islamic bonds on a daily basis. In fact Dow Jones and Citigroup actually launched an Islamic bond index called the "Dow Jones Citigroup Sukuk Index." Sukuk (Islamic capital market instruments) have been the topic of choice at numerous finance conferences throughout Europe, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific and now in the United States. One of the key principles of Islamic finance is the prohibition on charging interest (or 'Riba') on money.