Islamic loans turn profit for banks in USA

— -- A customer showed up at little Devon Bank on Chicago's North Side, asking for a loan to open a neighborhood shop. But there was a hitch, the would-be borrower explained: "We can't pay any interest. Can you help?"

At the time, seven years ago, the answer was: "Nope," recalls David Loundy, Devon's vice president and legal counsel.

That was then. Since fielding that first request, Devon Bank has transformed itself into a specialist in the kind of no-interest Islamic financing the customer was seeking. Islamic financing now accounts for more than 75% of the bank's mortgage portfolio, and Devon has made mortgages compliant with Islam's sharia law in 36 U.S. states, Loundy says.

Devon Bank, responding to local customers in a neighborhood filled with Pakistani and Middle Eastern immigrants, stumbled onto something big: Islamic finance is booming worldwide, fueled by the windfall from sky-high oil prices and a return to a more strict interpretation of the holy Quran across the Islamic world. Once Devon Bank introduced sharia-compliant mortgages and other loans, "People started coming out of the woodwork," Loundy says.

In a report last month, credit-rating agency Moody's Investors Service said that the global Islamic finance market has grown about 15% in each of the past three years and is now worth about $700 billion worldwide. The heavyweights of global finance have taken notice: Citigroup, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and others have affiliates devoted to Islamic finance.

Giant mortgage investor Freddie Mac began buying sharia-compliant mortgages in 2001. Freddie Mac today continues to buy from four banks that together originate mortgages nationwide. In addition to Devon, Freddie Mac buys mortgages from Guidance Residential in Reston, Va.; University Bank in Ann Arbor, Mich.; and American Finance House Lariba in Pasadena, Calif.

Freddie Mac spokesman Brad German says the company bought more than $250 million in Islamic mortgages in 2007, but volume is slipping as the housing market declines. The mortgages are "a steady, if modest, niche," German says.