Excerpt:
A total 900,000 Muslims live in Italy and there are 70,000 companies set up by citizens coming from Arab countries. However, an 'Islamic bank', unlike in almost the entire Europe and the USA where the total sector's assets stand at $500 billion, is far from appearing, despite the fact that investors are saying they are ready for it. "We are ready to set 60% of the investment necessary to open in Italy a bank abiding by the principles of Sharia and we have contacted various Italian credit institutes which are interested.