This book demonstrates how the global market for Islamic financial services has shown strong
growth in recent years and shown remarkable resilience during the global
financial crisis. Drawing
on a range of international perspectives from the Gulf Cooperation Council
countries, Malaysia, Pakistan, Australia and Europe, this book explores the characteristics and performance of Islamic
finance and banking and discusses future prospects.  It offers a comprehensive theoretical
framework for Shariah governance in Islamic financial institutions, explores Shariah-compliant
equities, as well as issues in productivity, technology and efficiency. It
includes a number of comparative studies on Islamic and conventional
banks, Islamic and conventional unit trusts, and Islamic and conventional
banks’ product mixes. The challenges and opportunities for the expansion of
Islamic finance and banking into Europe are explored through the contexts of
the UK, Germany and Italy.