Bank of London and the Middle East participates in Qatar infrastructure financing

Notes and media contacts

About BLME:
• The Bank of London and The Middle East ("BLME") launched in the UK on 9 July 2007, having received FSA authorisation to launch as a standalone, wholesale, Sharia'a compliant bank based in the City of London.
• BLME is focused on four main business lines: Islamic Treasury and Financial Institutions, Corporate Banking, Private Banking and Investment Management, Investment Banking.
• To ensure that all BLME's services and operations are wholly Sharia'a compliant, BLME has a dedicated Sharia'a Supervisory Board whose role is to review contracts and agreements relating to all of BLME's transactions to ensure they are consistent with the principles of Islamic jurisprudence.

About Islamic banking

Islamic finance is based on the principles underlying Islamic law (known as Sharia'a). The key difference between Islamic finance and conventional finance is the avoidance of interest (riba) - all transactions and agreements must be structured in such a way as to avoid interest, as well as any investments in activities that are contrary to Sharia'a law such as illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco and gambling.

Transactions must also avoid uncertainty (gharar), speculation (maysir), or anything that leads to the unjust enrichment or unfair exploitation of one of the parties to the contract.

To ensure Sharia'a compliance, Islamic Banking and Finance institutions, including BLME, have a board of Islamic scholars that advises, reviews, and issues a decree on compliance with Sharia'a principles with regard to the institution's activities, proposed transactions and contracts.

The first Islamic bank was founded in 1975. However, over the last decade the Islamic Banking and Finance industry has experienced a period of sustained asset growth at around 10-15% per annum, and assets now total in excess of $500bn.