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James Simon Watkins
Religion
and the Global Money
Markets
Exploring the Influence of Christianity, Islam,
Judaism and Hinduism
James Simon Watkins
Birmingham, UK
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
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To Olwyn Gummerson
Thank you for your friendship and your encouragement for me to complete
this book. Always remembered
Preface
The shock of the Covid-19 pandemic will take some time to wear off.
One former American diplomat has even argued that the impact of
the viral infection on the global economy is like that of a patient in an
“induced coma” where it will take a considerable period of time for the
world to fully wake up.1
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine being yet another jolt to the
global economy, it is uncertain when a full recovery from the treble shocks
of the global financial crisis, Covid and the Russia–Ukraine war will take
place.
It is at this time of crisis that we have a small window of opportunity
to look again at how our global economy works in practice.
Days after the tragedy of the 9/11 atrocity in 2001, the then British
Prime Minister, Tony Blair spoke of how that was the moment when the
“the kaleidoscope has been shaken, the pieces are in flux, soon they will settle
again. Before they do let us reorder this world around us ”.2
What followed next was a war in Afghanistan against the Taliban, which
20 years later, led to the return of the Taliban whilst the war in Iraq led
vii
viii PREFACE
Note
Dates and months cited in this book are based on common era dates
rather than Jewish, Muslim and Hindu dates and years unless otherwise
stated within the text.
xi
Contents
xiii
xiv CONTENTS
Index 457
List of Figures
xv
xvi LIST OF FIGURES
1 Ed Saiedi, Ali Mohammadi, Anders Broström, Kourosh Shafi, Distrust in Banks and
Fintech Participation: The Case of Peer-to-Peer Lending, (February 2018).
Then in the second half of the twentieth century, the ups and downs
of currencies and share prices led to various public debates as to what to
do about markets with various financial crises in the 1980s and 1990s.
This was the era when market participants were seen as beyond the
pale such as Michael Douglas’ character in the 1987 film, Wall Street,
declaring to a group of investors that “Greed is Good” and the British
comedian, Harry Enfield, breaking into the music charts in 1988 with his
portrayal as a speculator singing his “loadsamoney” song whilst waving a
wodge of cash.
Then came the 2008 global financial crisis and the image of a shamed
Dick Fulds of Lehman Brothers trying to explain away his collapsed
bank’s conduct before sceptical politicians in the US Congress.
This fed into further negative media portrayals of capital markets such
as the manic driven broker played by a charismatic Leonardo di Caprio in
the 2013 film, Wolf of Wall Street and the 2018 German-Luxembourgish
TV series, Bad Banks, where hedonism ruled on the Frankfurt trading
floors.
Even the 2020s pandemic has not relieved the opprobrium levelled at
capital markets. In January 2021, whilst much of the world focussed on
the start of an unprecedented global vaccination campaign, a group of
consumer investors fought back against hedge funds by buying up shares
of the US video games retailer, GameStop, which institutional investors
were effectively short selling.
When there was an attempt by some in Wall Street to stop consumers
buying up these shares, this led to a fleeting moment when the right
wing of the US Republican Party as represented by Senator Ted Cruz
was briefly in accord in condemning the operations of the money markets
with the left wing of the US Democrats as represented by Congress-
woman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. That scintillating moment of political
bipartisanship on Capitol Hill has long since passed.
But the question this book poses is whether there is something else
going on which contradicts this public portrayal of endless greed and self-
centredness in capital markets.
For many market participants today would argue that far from “Greed
being Good” the focus is instead on “ESG”—Environmental, Social and
Governance objectives. Thanks to the work of pioneers such as the late
Kofi Annan when he was the United Nations Secretary General in the
2000s, the concept of measuring a company’s worth not just by its profit
1 INTRODUCTION: IS IT TIME TO TRUST THE CAPITAL MARKETS? 3
margin and dividend policy but also by its ESG requirements has taken
hold in capital markets.
We should not be surprised by this.
In the era of values-driven consumerism where a teenage Swedish envi-
ronmental campaigner can have as big an impact on consumer behaviour
as the utterances of an American President and where big data can be
utilised to measure ESG targets, global markets have moved sharply away
from the champagne swilling era of the 1980s.
Or has it?
This book will contend that whilst the focus on profits remains
undaunted, there has been a sea change in attitudes in capital markets
with the rise of ESG targets which can be measured and tracked.
There is, though, an unsung reason as to why markets have changed
over recent decades which goes beyond the harsh lessons of the 2008
global financial crisis—and that is religion.
Today, there are now Christian, Jewish and Islamic investment funds
which are influencing how markets operate.
The rise of Islamic finance, particularly with the establishment of the
Dubai Investment Bank in 1975, has had a profound impact on markets.
It is hard to find another religion which refers so much to ethical business
dealings as Islam.
It is true that the great religions refer to good ethical conduct and
Hinduism and Christianity refer to economic issues to such an extent
that there is a whole discipline regarding Hindu Economics whilst Chris-
tian theologians debate the very concept of money. There are detailed
stipulations in Judaic practice and law as to the role of contracts and
usury.
It is Islam, though, that has strong business credentials. It was the
Prophet Muhammed who is referred to as having once been a trader
driving camels laden with goods across the desert plains of seventh-
century Arabia.
Khadija, the Prophet’s wife, was a very successful businesswoman in her
own right and helped the Prophet succeed in business before he received
the Revelation and there are even references in the Qur’an to the business
acumen of the Prophet’s family, the Quraysh tribe.
Christian teachings are, though, prevalent when it comes to business
affairs. In 1745, 1846 and 2009, the Vatican railed against the iniquities
4 J. S. WATKINS
If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be
like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. If ever
you take your neighbour’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before
the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his
body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am
compassionate.2
2 Exodus 22:25.
1 INTRODUCTION: IS IT TIME TO TRUST THE CAPITAL MARKETS? 5
bonus on Wall Street fell for the first time in three years in 2018 to
$153,700, according to estimates by the New York State Comptroller.
With the average US salary at $40,000 per annum, even changes in the
bonus culture is unlikely to engender a warm fussy feeling of solidarity
between Wall Street and Main Street.
It is in that context that the introduction of Islamic compliant deriva-
tives has been viewed with suspicion by a number of sharia scholars. Is
this not, many of them argue, conventional derivatives by another name?
Are not the cynical traders of the money markets abusing the name of
Islam to access investors in the Gulf in order to make a quick buck?
In fact, something more dramatic is happening than some of these
scholars give credit for. Whilst the winner takes all approach may still
be dominant amongst market participants, the core principles of religion
are beginning to take hold on trading floors and these ethical values are
having an impact as to how business is conducted and the impact this
form of business has on the social and environmental needs of wider
society.
This is not because of a change of heart by market participants but is
seen as the price of doing business by devising new investment structures
which are weighted towards the beliefs of Muslims with markets being
busy issuing sharia compliant instruments such as sukuks (Islamic finance
bonds) and sharia compliant derivatives.
Whilst one credit ratings agency saw the steps that must be followed
with Islamic derivatives as a “hurdle”, the acceptance of these “hurdles”
by the markets means that—maybe insidiously—the ethical values of Islam
are beginning to shape the very operation of the global money markets
which, in turn, affect the outcome of these market operations for people
of all faiths and none.
Let us first consider the relationship between Islam and the money
markets. What are the hurdles that market participants must follow if they
want a piece of the Islamic finance pie?
It is No to speculation, No to interest and No to investing in unethical
sectors such as gambling.
What is fascinating about the influence of Islamic finance ideas is that
the very concepts that are core to laissez faire capitalism is being subverted
from the inside by these new sharia compliant instruments. The first ever
sukuk was issued in 1990 and the world’s first sovereign sukuk was issued
in 2002. In respect of sharia complaint derivatives, the first formalised
sharia compliant derivatives structures were only finally agreed in 2017.
6 J. S. WATKINS
It is in this remarkably short period of time that the values and objec-
tives of Islamic finance are changing the operations of the money markets
from inside the global financial services industry itself.
These are early days.
The global sukuk market was valued at $399.9 billion at the end of
2017 compared to the value of the conventional bond market at $105.9
trillion as of 2019. The over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate derivatives
turnover (daily average) in the UAE, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia,
Turkey and Bahrain, combined, was only $3 billion as of April 2019
compared to the global value of the conventional derivatives market of
$11.6 trillion at year-end for 2019.
However, this book is looking at these early developments and seeing
what the trend is for sharia compliant instruments in the money markets.
Already we are seeing United Nations backed initiatives praising sukuk
financing as sustainable as compared to other forms of conventional
financing whilst the early signs of the impact of the sharia compliant
derivatives market is that these new disciplines are forcing financial
services businesses to think afresh about their commercial practices and
their impact on society and the wider environment.
We should not necessarily exaggerate the role of Islamic finance to
change behaviour in the money markets. After all, this is the era when
corporates are expected by regulators to—at the very least—pay lip service
to meeting ESG objectives.
However, it can be argued that Islamic finance has been more
successful than years of efforts by regulators, politicians and campaign
groups for the money markets to act more responsibly. It is the market
signals from these sharia compliant instruments which are evincing this
change.
It is Jewish and Christian investment funds which are also making the
running when it comes to addressing environmental concerns.
Operation Noah is a coalition of Christian groups which is arguing
for divestment away from fossil fuels in response to the climate change
emergency. A significant number of investment trusts which have been
established to appeal to Christian investors have decided to positively
respond to Operation Noah’s demands.
At the same time, Christian denominations have their own fund
managers to invest in the money markets in order to fund Church activi-
ties such as the provision of pensions for retired clergy. Whilst these fund
1 INTRODUCTION: IS IT TIME TO TRUST THE CAPITAL MARKETS? 7
ALEXANDER
O Alexander, then,
In all us mortals too,
Wax thou not bold—too bold
On the wave dark-blue!
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