Canada’s The Province reports that Canada’s biggest banks have still not tapped a growing pool of investors and borrowers sitting on piles of cash or in need of loans. The Province reports that there is a need for Islamic financial instruments, but also, for Islamic and Shariah compliant retail banking.

“We have immigrants who come to us and sit in our offices and tell us they have a million dollars sitting in one of the Big Five banks, in cash,” said Omar Kalair, president of UM Financial, one of the few providers of Muslim mortgages in Canada, to The Province.

The potential market is huge, with the Canadian Muslim population expected to reach 1.5 million by 2017. And, according to The Province, a recent poll indicated that around half of Muslims would prefer shariah-compliant retail banking options.

The Province reports that Guidance Residential LLC, the biggest player in the United States, has provided more than $1 billion in Islamic mortgages. There is currently $2.75 billion invested in mutual funds that comply with shariah. And globally, Thomson Reuters recently pegged the value of the Islamic finance industry at $1 trillion.

Since 2005, UM Financial has provided 500 homebuyers in Canada with $120 million in murabaha financing. And the company recently partnered with MasterCard to introduce the first “credit” card in North America aimed at Muslim consumers. Cardholders must first load up their cards with cash, spending only money they actually own and avoiding interest payments or credit-card debt.

Kalair said to The Province that it is now only a matter of time before UM teams up with a major bank to expand and extend its line of products. “Even though there are limited products and the pricing is high … in the Muslim community, if they were provided an opportunity, they would be ready to switch over.”

For more information on Islamic financial instruments or Shariah-compliant loans or lending, please contact info@islamic-finance-blog.com.

For the original story courtesy of The Province, please click here: http://www.theprovince.com/life/story.html?id=2754081