Just last month, Iraqi President Jalal Talibani approved a law, No. 95 of 2012, that establishes a state-owned Islamic bank given the name “The Islamic Bank of Mesopotamia.” The initial working capital of the bank is, under Article 3 of the law, 50 billion Iraqi dinars (roughly $43 million), and it can be raised from time to time from resources that the bank itself develops.
The purpose of the bank, under Article 2 of the law, is to “provide financial and banking services consonant with the rulings of the Islamic shari’a and the development of the Iraqi economy.” In a concluding paragraph offering reasons for enacting the legislation, it is said that it stems in part from a “desire of a broad slice of citizens in obtaining banking services that accord with the Islamic shari’a.” The law is, thus, the first, major, public effort of the Iraqi government to enter into the rising field of Islamic finance………………………………………..Full Article: Source