From Economist.com: After the 1997 Asian crisis Malaysia, bruised by what its government saw as the buccaneering spirit of Western capitalism, threw itself into Islamic finance with renewed vigour. Bahrain hopes to follow a similar path.
The credit crunch did not come a moment too soon, as far as Manama was concerned. It has breathed new life into a regional market for bonds—both Islamic and conventional ones—and Bahrain has ambitions to be a hub for issuance and secondary trading…….Full Article: Source