Demand for Shariah-Compliant Banking Soars in UK

Demand for Shariah-compliant banking reached an all-time high last year in the UK according to Al Rayan Bank, which recorded a 449 per cent rise in Islamic savings since 2012.

The wholly Shariah-compliant Manchester-based bank this week reported a soaring number of applications for their home purchase and buy-to-let purchase plans in 2016. Al Yayan bank said the uptick reflects general growth in consumer demand for Islamic banking in Britain.

The surge in applications for the two plans received a record number of eligible enquiries last year, marking a 99 per cent increase over the past five years.

Along with growing demand for home finance, Al Rayan also reported a 47 per cent rise in 2016 of the value of Islamic savings compared with the previous year. Since 2012, these savings at the bank have grown by 449 per cent since 2012.

In a statement on the bank’s website, Al Rayan said the growing demand for Shariah-compliant financial service products shows Islamic finance is becoming an established part of British banking.

The company’s commercial officer, Ken Leach, said: “In recent years we’ve worked hard to ensure that ethical, Sharia compliant banking products are as accessible as possible to customers of all faiths

“We’re therefore very pleased that our products, and Islamic banking in general, is clearly becoming an established part of British retail banking.

“There is still substantial room for growth in this market and we expect demand to continue to rise in the coming years.”

Al Rayan has a Sharia Department and an independent Sharia Supervisory Committee to ensure all of the products and facilities it offers are compliant with Islamic teachings.

The Qatari-owned bank was established to meet growing demand for Islamic finance, not long after then Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair opened Britain’s borders to an unprecedented influx of migrants.

Former chaplain to the Queen, Gavin Ashenden, this week told Breitbart London that demographic trends point to Britain becoming an Islamic nation in just a few generations.

Speaking with James Delingpole, the reverend recalled how at an inter-faith conference in 2003 an imam he described as an “eminently serious scholar” stood up and said: “The UK is going to be an Islamic republic in the time of my grandchildren, and I don’t need to do anything about it, it’s just going to happen.”