Social impact finance
The recent financial crisis has significantly damaged the global financial industry's image, particularly affecting the image of interest-bearing assets as well as the regulatory framework of central banks. As a result, new ways of doing finance have developed, creating alternatives to the regular financial system. These alternatives include ethical banking, which prohibits certain practices, such as, insider trading, bribery, discrimination, money laundering, and fraud; non-banking solutions, a method of intermediating money as an alternative to interest-based loans; and Islamic finance, an alternative method to interest-based loans which prohibits interest-based loans, something that is considered central to the conventional financial system. This book explores each of these non-conventional banking and financing mechanisms in detail, with case studies from distinguished experts in higher education institutions, asset management firms, non-profit, multilateral and international organizations, and includes examples from Egypt, Spain, the United States, Sweden, and Indonesia, in which these alternative methods have succeeded. Social Impact Finance is the third book in the IE Business Publishing series for the Saudi Spanish Center of Islamic Economics and Finance and will be of particular interest to micro, small & medium sized businesses as well as young entrepreneurs.
Islamic finance in Western higher education: developments and prospects
The recent international financial turbulences have been severe and far reaching in their magnitude and consequences. Neither any country nor any sector seems to have been spared from their effects. The higher education sector is not an exception; particularly the programs offered in business and finance. Many academics, practitioners and others have started questioning the content of the programs and their impact on the learners. Ethics, values and responsibility are coming out as factors that cannot be surpassed. Thus, current and future programs ought not to ignore such factors. Within this heated context, Islamic finance education has gained momentum. This phenomenon has been depicted by Western higher learning institutions as an opportunity that could enhance its competitiveness. Consequently, many renowned Universities and business Schools started offering streams at their existing programs or even establishing fully-fledged Islamic Finance ones. This book sheds light on this development through actual cases written by lecturers and researchers who played an important role in the Islamic finance in western higher education.
Islamic economics and finance A European perspective
In June 2010 IE Business School, with King Abdulaziz University, gathered in Madrid some of the world's foremost scholars, academics and practitioners of Islamic Economics and Finance. These highlights of the symposium and original articles specifically address the post-crisis application of this growing and relevant economic philosophy in Europe. The global economic crisis has driven many economists around the world to seek alternative solutions to the western capitalist model which has proven to have some shortcomings. One prominent area of that research has been Islamic Economics and Finance. Based on the Muslim teachings of shari'ah, this system differs significantly from conventional economics and finance, notably in the prohibition of interest and strong emphasis on moral ethics. In June 2010, IE Business School, with King Abdulaziz University, gathered in Madrid some of the world's foremost scholars, academics and practitioners of Islamic Economics and Finance to discuss how this alternative philosophy can be applied in western financial markets. This collection of highlights from that conference and original articles, specifically addresses the post-crisis application, as well as the Legal and Tax Implications, of this growing and relevant economic philosophy in Europe, including in the area of Project Financing.