Includes bibliographical references and index.

Toward a comprehensive theoretical framework for Shariah governance in Islamic financial institutions / Siti Normala Sheikh Obid and Babak Naysary -- Do customers patronize Islamic banks for Shari'a compliance? / Shakir Ullah and Kun-ho Lee -- Bank image in the UAE: comparing Islamic and conventional banks / Hussein A. Hassan Al-Tamimi, Adel Shehadah Lafi and Md Hamid Udin -- Bankers' perception toward Bai Salam method for agriculture financing in Pakistan / Ahmad Kaleem and Saima Ahmad -- Bank-level stability factors and consumer confidence - a comparative study of Islamic and conventional banks' product mix / Kassim Hussein -- A comparative performance of conventional and Islamic unit trusts: market timing and persistence evidence / Nafis Alam, Kin Boon Tang and Mohammad Shadique Rajjaque -- Shariah-compliant equities: empirical evaluation on performance in the European market during credit crunch / Nafis Alam and Mohammad Shadique Rajjaque -- Awareness of Islamic banking products among Muslims: the case of Australia / Hussain Gulzar Rammal and Ralf Zurbruegg -- Challenges and opportunities for Islamic retail banking in the European context: lessons to be learnt from a British-German comparison / Stefan Volk and Markus Pudelko -- Developing the Islamic financial services sector in Italy: an institutional theory perspective / Barbara Petracci and Hussain G. Rammal.

This book demonstrates how the global market for Islamic financial services has shown strong growth in recent years and remarkable resilience during the global financial crisis. Drawing on a range of international perspectives from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Malaysia, Pakistan, Australia and Europe, this book explores the characteristics and performance of Islamic finance and banking and discusses future prospects. It offes a comprehensive theoretical framework for Shariah governance in Islamic financial institutions, explores Shariah-compliant equalities, as well as issues in productivity, technology and efficiency. It includes a number of comparative studies on Islamic and conventional banks, Islamic and conventional unit trusts, and Islamic and conventional banks' product mixes. The challenges and opportunities for the expansion of Islamic finance and banking into Europe are also explored through the contexts of the UK, Germany and Italy.

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