The Middle East is cash heavy and banks aspire to modifythis reality, by weaning more and more of their customersfrom carrying paper money. Electronic cash is bettermanageable and more profitable for financial institutionsand thus the credit card industry is expanding into cardswhich they hope will appeal to regional customers –including a new variety of sharia-compliant credit cards. As with all Islamic banking products, plastic is relativelyrecent. A Malaysian bank, AmBank, started foraying intoelectronic payments around 2001 when it launched its AlTaslif card in December of that year. Hot on the heels of their Malaysian counterparts, banksoffering sharia-compliant financing options in the Gulf havebeen rolling out “Islamic credit cards” at an increasingpace since 2002. Prior to the unveiling of Bahrain-based ABC Islamic Bank’sAl Buraq card in 2002, plastic money adhering to shariaprinciples available in the GCC was limited to debit cards.The cards were designed for use when traveling and backed byfunds
