Banks seeking to attract Muslim investors are struggling with a shortage of Islamic scholars who are knowledgeable about shariah law. There are only about 150 such scholars in the world who are involved in Islamic finance, the Financial Times reports, and just 20 of them that are sufficiently recognized internationally so that devout Muslims would accept their fatwa, or edict, approving of a bank’s particular product. As a result of the shortage, reports the FT, fees for such scholars are skyrocketing, with some reported to be charging as much as $500,000 for advising on large transactions. So intent on attracting the Muslim audience, some banks, such as HSBC and Citigroup, have even set up shariah advisory board of Islamic scholars.
