Islamic banking in Europe: The Reintegration of Faith and Economy

15 May 2002

For immediate release

Karsten Mengers is to speak about the reasons and motivation for Islamic banking in a lecture at Southwark Cathedral this evening, Wednesday 15 May. He has been Assistant Director of the Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance for nearly a year. Previously he worked for Deutsche Bank in Germany.

"Islamic Banking in Europe: the Reintegration of Faith and Economy" will be the 5th annual lecture sponsored by the South London Industrial Mission (SLIM). It is open to the public and takes place at 6.00 pm in Southwark Cathedral's Garry Weston Library.

Karsten Mengers is currently working as Assistant Director at the Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance in London. His main responsibility includes supervising and monitoring their distance learning postgraduate diploma course in Islamic Banking and Insurance, in which so far 440 students have enrolled. Most of them work as fund managers or academics, and some work with Islamic Banks, mostly in the Gulf region (Bahrain, Kuwait etc). Around 25% have so far graduated, others are still in the process. Many graduates have continued with further studies, e.g. Ph.D.

Mr Mengers has been involved in organising various conferences endorsed by the Institute, including one on Islamic Mutual Funds last autumn in London. He is currently busy planning for an executive development programme in July this year in co-operation with Islamic Development Bank, which is the largest Islamic bank worldwide.

He has visited more than 15 Muslim countries and has conducted research about nuclear policies between Pakistan and India, while he was a student at the South Asia Institute at Heidelberg University, Germany.

Ends.