The Islamic Banks that are appearing in the high streets are considered as acceptable alternatives to the regular banks by the Shariah Scholars such as Mufti Taqi Usmani (Hafizahullah). Because their financial products, including personal and home finance, are based upon Islamic principles one should use their services rather than going to the normal banks which are entangled in all sorts of unislamic practices which are sinful for a Muslim. Before taking out a product with any particular financial institution, be it a bank or an investment company, one should also check whether they have a Shariah board of scholars that supervises them. I say this because some so called "Islamic" investment schemes have been proven to be falsely claiming they were Shariah compliant but were in fact not.