Under Sharia law, the key principle in Islamic banking is sharing profit and loss and the prohibition of usury, interpreted as receiving interest on deposits and paying interest on overdrafts/loans.

As almost 20 million Muslims live in Russia, Russian banks begin to open up to the opportunities offered by Islamic banking. “Islamic business is slowly but surely developing here,” said Linar Yakupov, head of Russia’s Islamic Business and Finance Development Fund.

According to Reuters, state-controlled VTB Bank plans to sell sukuk, Islamic bonds worth about $200m. Also, they opened an office in Dubai and plan to lauch other Islamic projects, like a real estate project involving the Sultan of Oman’s State General Reserve Fund. Banking experts say that, given Russia’s growing Muslim population, Islamic finance could potentially involve 5pc-10pc of the country’s citizens.

Source: telegraph.co.uk