Sinan Yüce

Well, one of the most compelling ideas I got when I departed from the internship of JPMorgan was getting more information about Islamic Finance –no, they do not offer anything about Islamic Finance here. Well, here in Turkey, the issue is somewhat sensitive due to the indigestion of secularism, but it is often taken as another business opportunity in the rest of the world. I read a lot of articles from different magazines (e.g. the Economist, BusinessWeek) and it is a fact that world’s biggest banking institutions are looking for those candidates who have the knowledge of Islamic Finance.

The oil boom that led to savings of excess money in the Islamic countries also brought urges to use this money in different financial instruments. Due to the laws of Islam, not all of the instruments proposed in the markets are allowed for the Muslim people. Therefore, one should also obey to the rules of Shariah –Koranic law- in terms of his investments.

Well, in this article, BusinessWeek draws attention to another interesting fact about Islamic Finance. According to the article, a lot of colleges including Harvard consider adding courses and programs for those who are seeking more about Islamic Finance. Well, according to the article, the area is one of those very special cases where demand exceeds supply.

While the world is evolving, what happens in our own country? Well, nothing interesting. I can not imagine any college that offers such a course without starting the discussion of secularism. Well, what a pity for us! By the way, it is worth mentioning the fact that even the parties who are supposed to be the representer of Islam started to acknowledge the fact that “money has one color, it is only green and is only for the dollar”. Is that so?

I don’t think so.

I know that there has been a lot of work in this area in Turkey. Especially the special type of banks which were previously called as ‘Finans’, -e. g. Faisal Finans, Anadolu Finans,- offered such services. Their model got such acclaim that they gave seminars in the Western Europe –remember, one of the candidates of recent central bank’s top position was Adnan Büyükdeniz who was one of the founders of such institutions-. But recent laws in banking systems started to limit the capabilities of these institutions. But the authorities should realize that unless our banking system does offer financial services in depth for Islamic finance, we will witness more examples of Yimpaş, Jetpa, etc. in which the people who are seeking to invest their savings according to the Islamic laws were exploited and caused a lot of complaints in the public.

Well, I am taking notes about the issue. When I have more time in the future, I will be looking issue more closely and the opportunities that Turkey can have.