Development of Islamic Finance in Europe and North America : Opportunities and Challenges

How popular is Islamic finance in the USA? Findings from Google Trends

“…Islamic Finance started in the USA with the foundation of the Amana Income Funds in 1986 that used Ijarah contract to finance homes (Mueller, 1994). Amana Income Fund total asset was about three million dollar in 1987 and grew to exceed thirty million in 2016 (Alharbi, 2016). One year after the foundation of Amana Fund, another Islamic home finance institution was founded in California State, called American Finance House-LARIBA (Ilias, 2008).…”

“…In 2003, Devon Bank founded a branch that operates according to Islamic law (Alharbi, 2015;Chiu and Newberger, 2006). In the same year, the University Islamic Financial (UIF) bank was established in Detroit, Michigan, as a fullyfledged Islamic bank to provide financial services to the Muslim community in the states (Abdullah, 2016;Alharbi, 2016). The bank has branches in several states that include Illinois, New York, New Jersey and California.…”

“…In the USA, Islamic finance started during the 1980s with the establishment of two financial institutions that used Ijarah and Murabaha to finance homes (Alharbi, 2016). During the 2000s, more Islamic financial institutions were established and today the USA hosts more than 30 Islamic financial institutions distributed in several states (Alharbi, 2015;Billah, 2019;Zinser Brian, 2019).…”

“…During the 2000s, more Islamic financial institutions were established and today the USA hosts more than 30 Islamic financial institutions distributed in several states (Alharbi, 2015;Billah, 2019;Zinser Brian, 2019). While some studies have investigated the development of Islamic finance in the USA (Alharbi, 2016;Szczepanowicz, 2011), the popularity of Islamic finance in the USA was not examined yet.…”

The development and special aspects of Islamic finance in Europe at the present stage

“…All this reduces the competitiveness and maneuverability of Islamic financial institutions in comparison with usual credit establishments and it creates additional restrictions on the ways in which profits are received. To mitigate the effects of negative factors, some regulators refuse the legal use of the concept of "Islamic finance" in the money and credit systems that are under of their control [8,10]. Speaking about the aspects of the development and existence of Islamic finance in Europe, in a point of fact the integration of Islamic banking into the economy of European countries, it should be reminded that it began its existence in its current form in the second half of the 20th century in Egypt as a single movement action of the Islamic idea of helping to the marginal population.…”