The FCI is an average of two alternative FCIs, one in which the weights are derived from the impulse response of HICP inflation to a shock in each of the four financial variables from an estimated value at risk (VAR) model, and the other where the weights are derived from the elasticities drawn from a set of projection models used in the (broad) macroeconomic projection exercise. The latest observations are for 14 May 2020. Chart 9 External financing conditions of euro area NFCs (percentages per annum)  Sources: Refinitiv, Merrill Lynch and ECB calculations. Notes: Monthly data. The blue dots refer to the nowcasts for April 2020 (left dot) and May 2020 (right dot) for the overall cost of financing, assuming that bank lending rates remain unchanged at their March 2020 levels. The latest observations are for May 2020 for the costs of equity and debt, and March 2020 for the costs of lending. Chart 10 Financial and non-financial equity prices  https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2020/html/ecb.sp200519~e5203d3520.en.html  7/14  5/19/2020  Pandemic central banking: the monetary stance, market stabilisation and liquidity  (1 January 2019 = 100)  Sources: Bloomberg, Datastream, Refinitiv and ECB calculations. Notes: Daily data. The indices used are the Datastream indices for non-financial and financial corporations. The latest observations are for 14 May 2020. Chart 11 Euro area corporate bond spreads (basis points)  Sources: iBoxx, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and ECB calculations. Notes: Daily data. The latest observations are for 14 May 2020.
And that lies four square within the Bank of England’s mission to promote the good of the people of the United Kingdom, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. Global growth in Islamic Finance Islamic finance is a global success story, with assets of $ trillion in 2019 (Table 1). That’s 11% higher than a year earlier, and fully a third bigger than in 2015. Table 1: Size and composition of Islamic Finance Services Industry $ 2019)  *  *Gulf Co-operation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates). Source: Islamic Financial Services Industry Stability Report 20202  Three quarters of those Islamic finance assets are held by banks – and are large enough to play a  1  For a summary of these principles, see eg https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2017/islamic-banksand-central-banking.pdf?la=en&hash=15D94BD65C2EFA6962989D10E21543B7B7013C1C. 2 https://www.ifsb.org/download.php?id=5724&lang=English&pg=/index.php. 2  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches and @BoE_PressOffice  2  systemic role in thirteen countries.3 There’s also a nascent Islamic insurance industry (takaful) – and a much larger capital market, anchored around the growing stock of sukuk4 issued by companies and governments (Chart 1), and over 1,500 Shari’ah compliant investment funds. Chart 1: Global sukuk issuance and stock outstanding  Source: Islamic Financial Services Industry Stability Report 20202  The role of the UK and the Bank of England in supporting Islamic Finance So far, so impressive.