A joint working group is being set up by British expertise and International Financial Services London to boost export of UK-based Islamic financial services.
The main object of group, to be known as Islamic Financial Services for Business, is to help member companies of both organisations to establish key contacts, find potential partners and clients.
The initiative comes as UK Trade and Investment is seeking to develop a strategy to make UK a gateway for Islamic Finance, as part of strategy on promoting London and UK as international financial centre.
Over past few years, the government introduced series of steps to help British banks and service companies to tap into huge multi-billion Islamic financial market by devising ways to make products Shariah-compliant. UK Treasury says its aim has been to create a "level playing field" in alternative finance, investments, like Islamic finance, in retail market. One of the most recent was introduction in this year's budget of new measures for Sukuk that led to issuing of first billion dollar Shariah compliant corporate bond to be listed on London Stock Exchange.
British banks declared as fully Shariah compliant, which now include such High Street chains as Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, are estimated to have some 30000 customers out of UK Muslim population, which is approaching two million.
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