Al Rayan Bank to make its mark during Islamic Finance Week

Following his instrumental role in the issuance of the first ever public Sukuk (Islamic bond) to be issued in a non-Muslim country, the treasurer of the UK’s largest Islamic Bank*, Al Rayan Bank, is taking part in a panel discussion as part of the celebrations for IFN UK Islamic Finance Week.

The week of activities, running from 3 - 7 September, is being hosted by IFN Europe Forum in conjuction with leading European regulators, global standard-setters, world leaders and UK and European Islamic finance practitioners. As part of the dedicated week, there will be a day long event dedicated to communicating the latest developments in Islamic finance in the Western world, as well as a series of additional events, sessions and panel discussions. The activation is set to highlight the latest opportunities in the sector and how to make the most of them.

From 12pm-12.30pm on 5th September, Amir Firdaus, treasurer at Al Rayan Bank, is appearing on the panel discussing ‘Liquidity Issues and Supervision of Islamic Financial Insitutions in Western Europe’. Arshadur Rahan, manager, Shariah compliant project, Bank of England and Mohamed Dama, senior director and global head of Islamic finance, S&P Global Ratings will also be part of the panel discussion.

The one-day event is being held at Mansion House, London on 5th September 2018, with a schedule of activities from 9.30am to 4.40pm. Amir will be available throughout the day for media interviews.

Al Rayan Bank is the UK's oldest and largest Sharia compliant bank and has a wide Sharia complaint product offering, including Sharia compliant current and savings accounts, Home Purchase Plans and business banking current account and savings accounts.

Earlier this year, the Bank became the first to issue a public Sukuk a non-Muslim country with its inaugural securitisation of residential finance backed security (a Sharia compliant alternative to a conventional RMBS^). The £250million Sterling-denominated Tolkien Funding Sukuk No.1 Plc (“Tolkien Sukuk”) was oversubscribed with final demand at 155% of book.

Al Rayan Bank is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the PRA.

* Al Rayan Bank is the largest Islamic bank in the UK by assets as per latest published accounts

^ RMBS: residential mortgage-backed security is a type of mortgage-backed debt obligation where the cash flows derive from a pool of residential debt packaged into a special purpose vehicle which then issues securities that can be purchased by investors