What distinguishes Islamic finance is its emphasis on trading of goods and services and its advocacy for profit and risk sharing in businesses supported by a variety of partnership arrangements – this is in sharp contrast to loan based financing in conventional banks.
It increased to an average of 12,6 per cent in 1998 – having been around 35 per cent in the midst of the Asian crisis – before decreasing to an average level around 9 per cent for 2000. For the current year to date, the average one-month historical volatility is 12,3 per cent, much higher than in previous years.