Muhamed Zulkhibri is a Senior Economist at the Islamic Research and Training Institute, Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Arabia, with years of progressive experience in the Central Bank of Malaysia and policy-oriented institutions. He has authored extensively on monetary economics, financial institutions and markets, finance and economic development, Islamic economics and finance, in leading academic journals, industry reports and the financial press. He has lectured for under and post-graduate programs at the University of Nottingham, UK, and University Putra Malaysia. He has a PhD in economics from the University of Nottingham, UK. Abdul Ghafar Ismail is Head of Research at the Islamic Research and Training Institute, Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Arabia, and a professor of banking and financial economics at the University Kebangsaan, Malaysia. He has been lecturing at the university since 1987 on economics and finance courses such as money and banking, financial economics, advanced macroeconomics, Islamic economics system, money and capital markets in Islam and international finance; Islamic banking; money, zakat and the real economy; risk management in Islamic banking; Islamic financial management. His specialization is in the area of Islamic economics and finance. He has a PhD in economics from the University of Southampton, UK.