Islamic banking in a European Union context

Abstract

The migration crisis of the 21th century and the high birth rate of the Muslim population already living in the European Union, also the increasingly close economic relationship with investors in the Middle East created strong market opportunities for Islamic banks within the European Union. Despite there are still member states where Islamic banking is unknown, in Western European countries with larger Muslim populations, the number of Islamic banks’ branches and the „Islamic windows” of traditional banks are gradually thriving. Interpreting Islamic finance is not solely a matter of religion. The paper intends to draw up the most significant discrepancies between the conventional and Islamic finance with particular regard to such important factors as different interpretations of the concept of money, the assessment of interest, also the sharing of profit and loss between the bank and the client.