First steps Towards Islamic Finance Regulation in the Russian Federation

Abstract

Until recently, Islamic Finance was considered to be mostly a theoretical issue for the Russian economy, although there were some attempts to institute Islamic financial services in different regions of the country. However, in 2014-2015 the situation has changed and issues of Islamic finance regulation began to be revised by Russian authorities. This paper aims at investigating the economic and legislative background for Islamic finance development in Russia and shedding light on the possible solutions for appropriate changes to financial and banking legislation so that Islamic finance can be successfully integrated into the Russian economy. To meet these objectives, the history of the development of Islamic financial institutions in Russia was overviewed and the experiences of other countries that have already implemented Islamic financial instruments in their financial system under the “conventional plus” system were revised.