Interest free banking comes of age

Banking free of riba (interest), in its rapid and wide spread, has principally developed three practices-- murabaha (cost-plus financing), musharaka (venture capital financing), and ijara/isitna, (leasing). Also, conventional banks do handle money for Islamic investors with the specification that the funds be used Islamically. A latest addition to the services offered in Islamic finance has been the potential emergence of a bond market.