What are the products offered by conventional banks through their branches operating in Islamic environment?
On the liabilities side, the most common products offered are amanah accounts and mudarabah (participation) certificates or accounts. Amanah accounts are in the nature of current deposits which can be drawn on at any time and which do not pay a return to the holder (depositor). Mudarabah accounts, on which essentially the entire structure of Islamic banking rests are in fact in the nature of claims on a kind of mutual fund invested in Islamic banking assets. The characteristics of mudarabah accounts depend on the nature of the underlying assets in which the fund is invested. Thus, the mudarabah certificate may be linked to a fund which is invested in a specific large murabahah with a definite term. In this case the certificate would also be for a corresponding term and would be retired on completion of the term and realization of the proceeds of the murabahah . Alternatively the certificate may be linked to an ongoing fund which finances a pool of short-term murabahas . The certificate
