Islamic Banking and Finance: Current Developments in Theory and Practice is the first of two volumes based on papers presented at the Fourth International Conference on Islamic Economics and banking held at Loughborough University, UK, during August 13-15, 2000. The book discusses the performance, prospects and challenges facing the Islamic financial industry and highlights the opportunities offered by profit-sharing as an alternative way of performing financial intermediation. In addition to some 200 Islamic banks working in Muslim as well as non-Muslim countries, some of the biggest multinational banks, such as, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Citibank, Chase Manhattan, etc. are also offering Islamic financial products. The size of the Islamic banking industry exceeds $200 billion and is growing at a double-digit rate annually.