Islamic banking and the finance industry is growing at an annual rate of 20%.

Ma ny international as well as local institutions have stepped into this multi-bill ion dollar booming industry by establishing its Islamic wings and units. Interna tional giant banks such as HSBC (HSBC Amanah), Citi Bank (Citi Islamic) and Stan dard Chartered have already established their Islamic units and functioning in t he Middle East region. In Sri Lanka, despite the Muslim population being just 8% of the total populatio n, a considerable growth is reported in the past few years with the establishmen t of Amana, Ceylinco Profit Sharing, First Global and a new comer ABC Barakah. R ecently it is reported that the largest state owned commercial bank, Bank of Cey lon intends to commence its Islamic banking unit in early 2008. All these new en tries imply that this alternative banking system has drawn the attention of Musl ims as well as non-Muslims due to its unique developmental characteristics. The underlying principle of Islamic banks is the principle of justice which is a n essential requirement for all kinds of Islamic financing. In profit sharing of a financed project, the financier and the beneficiary share the actual or net p rofit/loss rather than throwing the risk burden only to the entrepreneur. The pr inciple of fairness and justice requires that the actual output of such a projec t should be fairly distributed among the two parties. If a financier is expectin g a claim on profits of a project, he should also carry a proportional share of the loss of that project. In contrast with conventional finance methods, Islamic financing is not centered only on credit worthiness and ability to repay the loans and interest; instead the worthiness and profitability of a project are the most important criteria of Islamic financing while the ability to repay the loan is sub-segmented under pr ofitability. One of the unique and salient characteristics of Islamic banks is that the integ ration of ethical and moral values with its banking operation. The ethical and m oral consideration of Islamic banks cannot be detached and their behavior should be consistent with the moral and ethical standards laid down by the Islamic Sha ri ah. Unlike the conventional banks, the financing of Islamic banks are restricted to useful goods and services and refrain from financing alcoholic beverages and tob acco or morally unacceptable services such as casinos and pornography, irrespect ive of whether or not such goods and services are legal or not in a given countr y. In contrast with conventional banks, Islamic banks do not consider only the cred it worthiness and interest rate as standards; instead they must apply Islamic mo ral/ethical criteria in their provision of financing. This adds another merit fo r Islamic banks since there is a benefiticial impact on the productivity in the economy as it reduces the social and economic cost of such harmful products and activities. Another important characteristic which forms the basis for the development of Is lamic banks is the relationship with depositors. They deal with their customers on investment grounds rather than a pre-determined fixed interest rate. They inv est the money of their depositors on high profitable projects after going throug h a strategic analysis in order to give a substantial return to their depositors

. Thus in Islamic banking industry, each bank will attempt to out-perform other ba nks if it wants to attract funds from investors. And the ultimate result is that a high return on investments for the investors, which is unlikely in a conventi onal bank where it deals with their depositors on a pre-determined fixed interes t rate. Furthermore Islamic banks eliminate the barrier between those who save and those who invest, and bring them closer to the real market. The nature of the financi al intermediation of Islamic banks significantly defers from conventional banks and it is in harmony with real market and developmental changes in it. It is important to highlight some of the challenges faced by the Sri Lankan Isla mic banks. Although there are many, the most important challenges are the lack o f Islamic banking professionals and the lack of Shari ah scholars who have special ized in Islamic economics. Further the Shari ah board should have a fair influence on the bank s operational and strategic planning. For this process to be successf ul, the Shari ah boards of our Islamic banks should absorb Islamic scholars based on their technical expertise rather than their popularity.