Although Egypt witnessed the first modern large-scale Islamic finance experiment (the short-lived Mit Ghamr Savings Bank from 1963 to 1967), there has been no consistent policy towards Islamic finance. This can partly be attributed to a historic mistrust by the regulator (and a large part of the public) of Islamic financial instruments. In the 1980s, certain financial institutions marketing their products as Islamic (most notably Al Rayan, Al Saad) and promising high returns (up to 20 per cent) lost the public's savings in what was characterised by the government as, essentially, a Ponzi scheme. More recently, however, there has been a growing interest in shariah-compliant financial instruments and in addition to the already established Islamic banks (eg, Al Baraka Bank, Faisal Islamic Bank) large conventional banks have opened up Islamic windows.