Libya to begin issuing Islamic bank licences

Stanley Carvalho and Regan Doherty at Reuters report that officials in Libya have announced that the country “hopes to have its first three dedicated Islamic banks operating next year to satisfy unmet demand for sharia-compliant financial services.” Following the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya’s former ruler who had discouraged Islamic banking in the country, authorities have passed rules covering Islamic finance in hopes of “build[ing] a modern financial system.” Since the announcement, the country’s central bank in control of issuing the Islamic banking licences has already received “five applications from local investors.”