About the Author: DR M. KABIR HASSAN is a financial economist with consulting, research and teaching experience in development finance, money and capital markets, Islamic finance, corporate finance, investments, monetary economics, macroeconomics and international trade and finance. He has provided consulting services to the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), African Development Bank (AfDB), USAID, Government of Bangladesh, Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC), and many private organizations and universities around the world. Dr Hassan received his BA in Economics and Mathematics from Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota, USA, and MA in Economics and PhD in Finance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA respectively. He is now a Professor in the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He has more than 100 papers published in refereed academic journals to his credit. Dr Hassan supervised 27 doctoral theses, and many of his students are now well placed in the academia, government and private sectors. He is editor of The Global Journal of Finance and Economics and Journal of Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance, International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, and co-editor of Journal of Economic Cooperation and Development. Dr Hassan has edited and published many books along with articles in refereed academic journals. Dr Hassan is co-editor (with M.K. Lewis) of Handbook of Islamic Banking and Islamic Finance and The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics (Edward Elgar, 2007). He is co-author Islamic Entrepreneurship (Routledge UK, 2010), and co-author (with Rasem N Kayed and Umar Oseni) of Islamic Finance (Pearson Publishing Company, 2012 forthcoming). A frequent traveller, Dr Hassan gives lectures and workshops in the US and abroad, and has presented over 100 research papers at professional conferences. His contact details are: mhassan@uno.edu; KabirHassan63@gmail.com; phone: 610-529-1247. MICHAEL MAHLKNECHT is a consultant in the areas of risk management, capital markets and Islamic finance. He regularly holds presentations and gives university lectures on Islamic finance at the Ecole de Management Strasbourg, the Philipps-Universität of Marburg (Germany), the University of Rome Tor Vergata, and the Technical University of Munich. Michael has written several papers on Islamic banking, insurance and capital markets, as well as on issues as diverse as graphical analysis methods, financial hedging, structured products, and credit risk management, which were published in various national and international magazines, including the Capco Journal of Financial Transformation, Islamic Business & Finance, Banker Middle East, and Private Equity and Hedge Funds Middle East. Michael is the author of the introductory German handbook Islamic Finance: Einführung in Theorie und Praxis (Wiley, 2008) and of the Executive Report Islamic Capital Markets and Risk Management (Incisive Media/RISK Books, 2009). He currently lives in Hamburg, Germany and may be reached under his private e-mail address: hmmahlknecht@gmail.com