Islamic financial industry records 15% annual growth

Islamic financial industry records 15% annual growth

A boom in the Middle Eastern economy is fueling growth of the Islamic financial industry. KPMG reports growth in the Islamic financial industry of about 15% per year and expects it to top $1 trillion in two years. Western interests have worked to develop creative strategies to help firms skirt Islamic laws prohibiting the payment of interest.

One recent afternoon, New York money manager James Rickards presented Sheik Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo with a dilemma: Could his hedge fund be Islamic-friendly?

Islam prohibits all kinds of speculative behavior that is embedded in Wall Street's DNA. But Mr. DeLorenzo, a Massachusetts-born convert to Islam, is on a mission to meld centuries-old Islamic law with modern finance in the U.S.

Mr. Rickards's fund couldn't bet on currency futures or some of the shares in the Standard & Poor's 500 index, Mr. DeLorenzo said, if he wants observant Muslims to invest.

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