By David Oakley
Published: December 18 2006 21:29 | Last updated: December 18 2006 21:29
The growing power of Islam in the financial world will be underlined on Monday with the launch of three benchmark indices designed to track the health of companies that comply with the laws of the Koran.
The three new indices will be called the S&P 500 Shariah Index, the S&P Europe 350 Index and the S&P Japan 500 Index, the index services arm of Standard & Poor’s, the ratings agency, said on Monday.
They will be based on the well-established western versions from which they take their names but strip out the companies that do not comply with Islamic law, and are not shariah-compliant.
Alka Banerjee, vice-president of S&P Index Services, said: “Potential growth in shariah-related investing around the world is enormous, but has been held back by a lack of globally accepted benchmarks and other tailored investment tools.
“The new S&P shariah indices will provide Islamic investors, and the institutions that serve them, with a rigorous and consistent set of international benchmarks to help them gauge the state of the market in this growing area.”
