Islamic Banking Certifications

Just curious if we can attain some of such certifications for instance Islamic banking online? Heard that it is a red hot field that is paying red hot money.

 

Really? Islamic banking doesn't allow for charging interest on loans which I would think would disqualify it from being a big money maker.

 

riba..........................

 

In general, Islamic banks manage to do pretty much the same sorts of things as conventional banks. However, banking transactions are structured in such a way as to avoid "loans" and "interest".

For example, an Islamic bank won't lend money to a business. But it may provide money to the business now, in exchange for a certain share of the future profits. In effect, the bank is purchasing the right to share in the profits of the business, so the money that goes from the bank to the business represents a "purchase" and not a "loan".

An Islamic bank won't lend money to a homebuyer. But it may buy the home outright, and then sell it to the homebuyer at a profit, with payments on the installment plan. The homeowner still makes monthly payments to the bank, but it's structured as a "lease-to-own" purchase, rather than as "repayment of a loan".

These may seem like semantic differences, but there is a very large market among Muslims for banking services that are structured in this way. A number of conventional US banks offer Islamic banking services due to customer demand.

 

Here is one: IIIBF Professional Certification Programs.

The people who really clean up are the ones who sit on Sharia compliance boards.

 

interesting, thanks for the clarification. I learned my something new for the day.

 

The ridiculous justifications used in Islamic banking are like Jewish shenanigans to get around the austerity of Shabbos. Or the Christians finding a spiritual home for Jesus Christ in neoconservatism.

If there is a God like the Jews, Christians, and Muslims imagine (highly unlikely, in my opinion), I doubt He can be "tricked".

 

Islamic Banking allows for credit cards too...

Hi

Bank credit cards are popular, too. I remember seeing (about 5-6 years ago) a picture of a teller at an Islamic bank (think it was in Malaysia) holding up her own Visa card.

Again, these are without interest. The credit card co. basically buys whatever is purchased and makes a profit on the re-sale to the cardholder.

(I wouldn't want to let my bill go past due, under Sharia! Wow!)

Johann

 

Incidentally, concerns about charging interest on loans are not limited to Muslims. There are a number of Biblical passages that seem strongly critical of this practice, and so many religious Jews and Christians are not entirely comfortable with it either.

For example, religious Jews may use a financial instrument known as a Heter 'Iska to circumvent religious restrictions on interest-bearing loans. This approach is very similar to the one that Islamic banks use.

Christian churches historically banned interest on loans. Even today, some conservative Christians still believe that this practice is forbidden by the Bible, and have considered whether Christians should use Islamic financial services, or start comparable services of their own. This is not a mainstream perspective in the Christian community, but it does exist.

 

Interesting article - Islamic Finance in Britain

Hi

It turns out that a couple of years back, the total value of the Islamic Finance sector in Britain exceeded that of Pakistan's Islamic Finance sector.

Total worldwide Islamic Finance market value in 2010 expected to reach $1 trillion US. In Britain, many non-Muslims choose to work in the Islamic sector and many others also invest in Islamic financial products.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article4761133.ece

Johann

 

There's FRAUD in them thar schools!

Hi

Islamic Finance is indeed such a hot topic that the mills have taken notice. This school, AIMS at AIMS | Institute of Islamic Banking & Finance, UK offers an MBA "in conjunction with" the less-than-stellar Pebble Hills University that's on pretty well all the mill-lists.

Here's the diploma you get:

http://www.learnislamicfinance.com/images/Samples/MBA-Sample-Certificate.jpg

Not worth a ryal, dinar or anything else.

S.O.P. for a Brit-based umm-school that's not qualified to confer any British degrees. They confer worthless paper from an overseas school, to avoid going to jail. There used to be a British-based "law school" that issued bogus LL.B. degrees from its captive offshore entity in Arkansas, an unaccred. school bought specifically for the purpose.

Sad.....

Johann

 

Further to the worthlessness...

Hi

I'm not surprised to learn the following about U. of Pebble Hills, mentioned above.

(1) It appears to have a license (not accreditation) from Somalia.

(2) It has US-unrecognized "accreditation" from ICHE (International Commission on Higher Education) which once "accredited" Breyer State!

(3) It's incorporated in Delaware and Hutt River Province, the domain of "Prince" Leonard Casley (Australia)

(4) It's also approved by WIDU - the World Information Distributed University, a beast of no cred. at all, formed in Belgium and having no authority to grant a meaningful degree there (or anywhere else I know of.)

(5) Pebble Hills degrees are said (by Pebble Hills) to be readily stampable as RA equivalent by the unrecognized evaluator CUFCE. Again, no more academic value than rubber-stamping a Piggly-Wiggly bag!

This is a disgrace. I wouldn't mind seeing the Pebble Hills folks that issue these wonky "degrees" in Islamic Finance become subject to the strictest provisions of Shari'ah law!

Johann

 

This looks good but will it be recognized as accredited?

 

No, because accreditation does not apply in this situation. The "International Institute of Islamic Business and Finance" is not a university, and its "Certified Islamic Banker" title is not an academic degree. It is a professional certification, like "Certified Public Accountant" or "Certified Network Admiinstrator". The CPA and CNA titles aren't degrees either, and aren't subject for academic accreditation.

Sometimes professional certifications come from governments (like the CPA title) or sometimes they come from private companies or organizations (like the CNA title). The CIB title from the IIIBF appears to fall into the latter category.

In some cases, certifications from private organizations have widespread acceptance and recognition in industry. In other cases, such certifications have very little value. It might be worthwhile to check with professionals in this field to see how this certification is regarded.

 

If anyone has done some personal research on qualifications/certifications and legitimacy of institutions in that areas, please share it with us.

 

Yeap sure appreciate it, I won't want to spend time on a professional cert that is not recognizable anywhere in the world except Somalia

 

Thanks for posting that link. Now all we need to do is use Photoshop to change the name on that file, print it on a really good printer and we can have a diploma that is a valuable and useful as the real deal from the above schools.

 

Did a bit research here.
One of the more legit institution issuing a certificate in Islamic banking seems to be the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.
But it looks like it requires an in-person exam:
Certificate in Islamic Banking.
I also found:
http://islamic-finance-resources.blogspot.com/2010/02/islamic-finance-training-programs.html, a quite large collection of the different certificates and degrees currently offered in Islamic banking.

 

Very good work, now print it out and go get a banking job.