the best things in life are free

I am intrigued by the idea of Islamic Banking. How does it work? How is it profitable?
I know that according to Shariah, it is haram to charge or gain interest with the idea (basically, to my understanding) that money itself shouldn’t make money. What I don’t know, is how Islamic banks benefit while adhering to the Islamic Law.
As much as I would like to believe that bankers are in it out of the goodness of their hearts… I know someone has to be profiting somehow.
Perplexing. This is the stuff they should have taught me in all those economic classes.

Some parts make sense.
For instance, I found an article about the Islamic Bank of Britain and their new youth savings plans that had this explanation:

It is based upon the Muslim principle of Mudaraba, which is a contract between two parties, one who provides the funds (customer) and the other who provides the expertise (Islamic Bank of Britain). Investment monies provided by customers will be used in Halal transactions, with profits shared equally between the bank and customer.

Ok, that makes sense. It’s a business transaction. Two parties each bring something to the table, one could not complete the transaction without the other, so they share the reward. Fair enough.

In other sources, I saw discussed the topic of Shirkah (partnership). This seems similar to the principles on which credit unions are run.
But still…
What about loans?

Most of the explanations I read seem like they are basically doing the same thing, just using different words. Although I suppose that’s really what is happening in the first part too.

So is it really any different? Or are Islamic banks simply justifying their actions differently than others?
Seems they would have good reason to do so, because in certain places (like the UAE) Islamic banks, and banks that offer Islamic banking services in addition to their regular banking, are growing much faster than traditional banks. Clearly that means they are making money somehow.