Yup. We know all about islamist Shari'ah law.
Posted on 06/25/2002 1:17:32 AM PDT by ConsiderTheLily
A Bank of England working party, which includes representatives of commercial banks and the Treasury, is investigating the wider introduction of Shari'ah compliant house mortgages in the UK, according to the Observer newspaper.
The working party has been looking at the issue for over six months and banks such as Citigroup and Barclays are "eyeing a lucrative market if they crack the problem," the UK Sunday newspaper reports.
According to wealth analysts Datamonitor, the 5,000 richest Muslims in UK have liquid assets of over $5 billion and the Observer quotes the company as having no doubt "the market for Islamic finance in the UK is set to grow hugely."
The newspaper points out that because conventional mortgages in the UK are based on interest, many of Britain's 2.5 million Muslims are losing out on the current bonanza of personal wealth brought about by home ownership.
UK house prices rose by some 11 per cent last year, 6,000 home loans were issued in March alone and the number of second homes in Britain is going through the million.
Specialist lenders such as the United Bank of Kuwait have been offering Shari'ah compliant alternatives to conventional mortgages in the UK but the market is not large. In addition, under current UK rules, when a home is purchased with an Islamic mortgage stamp duty is paid twice - once when the bank buys and then sells it to the individual.
High level executives from Islamic finance houses in Europe, the Middle East and the U.S., where Shari'ah compliant mortgages are increasingly popular, will be taking part in a wide-ranging debate on the issue at the International Islamic Finance Forum () in Geneva, Switzerland, next month.
The International Islamic Finance Forum series is organised by the Institute for International Research offices in Dubai, in association with the New York offices of Dow Jones.
The sponsors are National Commercial Bank, the second most important provider of Islamic banking services in Saudi Arabia with total assets of $26.5 billion; Faisal Finance (Switzerland), part of Dar Al-Maal Al-Islami Trust, with paid up capital of CHF20 million; Oasis Global Management Company (Guernsey), established to provide clients with the opportunity of investing in international security markets around the globe; Bahrain Monetary Agency, the country's central bank which pursues a long-term aim of ensuring Bahrain retains its position as the Middle East's leading financial centre; Wall Street Journal Europe is the official media partner; ABQ Zawya is the official Internet partner and maintains the IIR Islamic finance pages at .
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