Austria Now Offers Sharia-compliant Bank Accounts

BREITBART.COM: Amid the continuing migrant crisis in Europe, an Austrian bank is to introduce Sharia-compliant accounts for the country’s growing Muslim population.

BAWAG PSK will launch the accounts in Vienna next month, allowing customers to conduct their banking according to Islamic law.

Sharia banking prohibits charging interest, as well as transactions with companies that invest in gambling, alcohol or pornography.

It also does not allow buying homes on interest. Instead, the bank purchases the house and resells it to the customer who pays in regular instalments.

Claudia Lemlihi, head of marketing, said that the bank would launch a new current account that instead of charging or paying interest would charge a fixed fee. She added that the account, named ‘Amana’, was tailored specifically to the needs of Muslims living in Austria. » | Nick Hallett | Friday, January 15, 2016

David Cameron Unveils Plans to Make London a Mecca for Middle East Wealth

THE INDEPENDENT: Prime Minister hopes London can tap into the rapidly expanding global market in Islamic investments

David Cameron has announced plans to encourage investment in the UK by Muslim countries, saying he wants to make London “one of the greatest centres for Islamic finance anywhere in the world”.

Politicians and business leaders gathered in the capital for the ninth annual World Islamic Economic Forum – the first time the major event has not been held in a Muslim country.

The Prime Minister appeared on stage alongside a number of world leaders, including King Abdullah of Jordan and the Sultan of Brunei.

Among the measures unveiled was a plan from the Treasury to issue an Islamic bond - or sukuk - worth around £200 million. It would issue fixed returns based on the profit made by a named asset, allowing for Muslims to invest without breaking Islamic laws forbidding interest-bearing bonds.

A “world first” set of indices at the London Stock Exchange to help investors identify faith-compliant firms and projects was also announced as well as a £4.5 million boost to a small business growth fund.

The global market in Islamic investments is rapidly expanding, rising by 150 per cent since 2006 and expected to be worth £1.3 trillion next year.

Mr Cameron said Britain had already taken steps to ensure Muslims were not discriminated against - such as ending “double tax” on Islamic mortgages and introducing alternative forms of student and start-up loans to comply with a ban on interest payments.

It already had more Islam-compliant banks than any other Western country and many law firms and university courses centred on the subject, he said.

But he said that his ambition was for the country to compete with finance centres such as Dubai and Kuala Lumpur - not just other non-Islamic capitals. Read on and comment » | Adam Withnall | Additional reporting by PA | Tuesday, October 28, 2013

Britain to Become First Non-Muslim Country to Launch Sharia Bond

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: David Cameron to unveil £200m Sukuk at the World Islamic Economic Forum in London on Tuesday

Britain is set to become the first non-Muslim country to sell a bond that can be bought by Islamic investors in a bid to encourage massive new investment into the City.

David Cameron will say in a speech on Tuesday at the World Islamic Economic Forum in London that the Treasury is drawing up plans to issue a £200m Sukuk, a form of debt that complies with Islamic financial law.

The new sharia-compliant gilt will enable Britain to become the first non-Muslim country to tap the growing pool of Islamic investments that is forecast to top £1.3 trillion by next year.

The Prime Minister will say that it would be a “mistake” to miss the opportunity to encourage more Islamic investment in the UK and that the City of London should rival Dubai as a centre for sharia-compliant finance.

“When Islamic finance is growing 50pc faster than traditional banking and when global Islamic investments are set to grow to £1.3 trillion by 2014, we want to make sure a big proportion of that new investment is made here in Britain,” Mr Cameron will tell an audience of senior officials from Islamic countries.

Among those at the meeting are Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, King Abdullah of Jordan, Afghan president Hamid Karzai and Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince of Bahrain.

The World Islamic Economic Forum has never been held before in a non-Muslim country and highlights the growing role London is playing in the Islamic finance industry. » | Harry Wilson | Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Bank of London and the Middle East Launches [sic] Sharia'a [sic] Compliant Premier Deposit Account in Sterling, US Dollars and Euros for Investors
iSTOCKANALYST: Bank of London and The Middle East plc (BLME), London's leading wholesale Sharia'a compliant bank whose main shareholders are Boubyan Bank, National Bank of Kuwait, the Securities House and the Public Institution for Social Security, announced today the launch of its Premier Deposit Account (PDA) in Pound Sterling, US Dollars and Euro for Kuwait investors. >>> Source: Middle East Company News | Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Islamic Bank of Britain Gets Cash Boost for Sharia-compliant Loans
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: A fortnight after it was revealed by The Independent on Sunday that Lloyds banking group had abandoned its landmark Islamic mortgage offer, one of its rivals has outlined plans to expand the number of home loans offered which comply with sharia law.

The Islamic Bank of Britain has secured an extra £20m of investment from Qatar International Islamic Bank so that it can increase the number of sharia-compliant home loans and savings products. Under sharia, the payment and receipt of interest is banned, as is investment in areas such as arms manufacturing, alcohol and tobacco. >>> | Sunday, August 01, 2010

Westerners Help Financial Jihad Along
TIMES ONLINE: Sharia-compliant finance is prospering in Britain. But how can it stay insulated from the credit crunch?

As the credit crunch has mutated inexorably into a recession, with bankers having eclipsed politicians, lawyers and even journalists as public enemy number one, the growing number of Islamic finance institutions in Britain might just be sitting pretty.

The UK now has five fully Sharia-compliant banks and another 17 financial institutions have set up special branches or firms. They include the Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), with its London-based European Finance House in Berkeley Square, and the Islamic Bank of Britain, which has headquarters in Birmingham.

Both have answered Gordon Brown’s call of two years ago for Britain to become the global centre for international Islamic banking; a report by the International Financial Services London even says that Britain’s Islamic banking sector is now bigger than that of Pakistan.

Islamic banks, says Steven Amos, the Islamic Bank of Britain’s head of marketing, are prospering. “Our core business will always be Muslims but the numbers of non-Muslims are really picking up. We’ve had massive interest — and that’s down to a number of reasons, all of which have kept us insulated from the credit crunch.”

He alludes to the nuances of Islamic banking — specifically that Islamic finance has to be Sharia, or Islamic law, compliant. Sharia is taken from the Koran, one of whose central tenets — that money has no intrinsic value — might sound alien to the denizens of the City.

One British businessman believes that adopting Sharia principles might be just what the West needs. Roger Smee, a former professional footballer and now businessman, says the West has “lost the plot. All we have as a success guide is a number of rich lists. Instead of looking down on what we are quick to reject as cumbersome legal restrictions, we should take a page out of the Middle East’s book and use the principles of Sharia to begin building real and sustainable economies.” Crossing Over to Islamic Banking >>> Alex Wade | Thursday March 12, 2009

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Sharia-compliant Banking in Britain
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