Banks and banking, modern - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Kuran, Timur
Leiden
Brill
(2,806 words)
Banks arrived in the Muslim world in the nineteenth century, as a key initiative in the modernisation campaigns launched by Egypt and the Ottoman Empire. Although Muslim-governed societies had always benefited from credit markets, it was not until then that they were served by durable intermediaries authorised to accept deposits, make loans, transfer money, and provide various other financial services. Until the early nineteenth century credit suppliers were individuals or short-lived partnerships. Although the most successful moneylenders also made short-term loans to states, credit went mostly to