IslamicFinance.de

David Loundy, Chairman and CEO of Devon Bank in the US, scored the highest mark on the Certified Islamic Finance Executive (CIFE) examination to win Ethica's "Weekend in Dubai" competition. Among the prizes are an internship at an Islamic bank, airfare to Dubai, accommodation, and meetings with Islamic finance scholars and bankers. David commented that Ethica's CIFE program has allowed him to put together a "proto-Islamic bank" upon completing the program that commenced formal operations January 1, 2016 as Abraham's River, a liquidity source and investment company for non-interest based finance. Ethica and Devon Bank are now working together to help make Abraham's River an interest-free vehicle for the entire US. Ethica's prize also included a free internship at an Islamic bank which David donated to the second-highest scorer.

During the last ten years, Pakistan-based Akhuwat, the world’s first completely interest-free microfinance program, has disbursed $30 million to over 1 million people, without charging any interest. The company now has more than 1,000 regular employees and offices in 105 cities of Pakistan across the country. Their mission is to challenge the interest based system and challenge Islamic finance to evolve out of its current complacency with interest-mimicking products towards products based on the foundational principles of equity, sharing, and gifting and therfore fight poverty.

Today the certification institute Ethica launched an e-book on practical, usable information about Islamic finance. The 700 pages of the book cover a number of topics from sample Islamic finance contracts, over 1,000+ scholar-approved Q&As, to the entire "Meezan Bank Guide to Islamic Banking," study notes to Ethica's award-winning Certified Islamic Finance Executive (CIFE) program, etc. At the end of the e-book there is an easy-to-use subject index. The emphasis lies on entrepreneurship.