Birmingham-based Islamic Bank of Britain plc (IBB), is bringing the final leg of its national ‘Sharia Finance Question Time’ tour to Birmingham on 5th December 2012. The event, open to all members of the local community, will be held at Islamic Bank of Britain, 394 Coventry Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, B10 0UF from 6.00 pm – 7.30 pm.
‘Sharia Finance Question Time’ will be hosted by Kashif Mehboob, Deputy Branch Manager at Islamic Bank of Britain in Birmingham. It will consist of an informal debate giving attendees the opportunity to pose their questions to Samir Alamad, IBB’s dedicated Sharia Compliance Officer and a trained expert in Islamic finance.
Commenting on the event, Mr Mehboob says, “Interest in Islamic finance is growing and we expect the forthcoming IBB ‘Sharia Finance Question Time’ to be strongly attended. It will appeal to both existing customers and members of the local community keen to find out how Sharia compliant financial products work.”
IBB organised the series of national events in order to demystify Islamic finance for the consumer following a surge of applications for the Bank’s products over the summer period.
The Bank saw applications for its Two Year Fixed Term Deposit (FTD) account rise ten-fold within a three week period. The Bank believes that this was prompted by consumer interest in ethical banking alternatives, following a string of controversy for the UK banking sector, and a promotional, table-topping expected profit rate for the product.
Islamic finance has long been considered a stable and ethical alternative to conventional finance and as the UK’s only wholly Sharia compliant retail bank IBB offers consumers a different approach to banking. It operates entirely without the main instruments of the conventional finance sector including interest and speculative products such as short-selling, futures and options contracts and derivatives. Instead Islamic finance, and IBB, is founded on trading principles contained in Islamic Commercial Law, underpinned by principles of partnership and risk/reward sharing. These are applied in a specific way according to the product and its overall objective e.g. generating a profit for savings or purchasing a property. As a result, the customer and the Islamic bank work together as partners towards a mutually profitable end. The whole premise of Islamic finance is to provide a way for society to conduct its finances in a fair, ethical and socially responsible manner.
Based on this approach, IBB has been recognised as an ethical alternative to conventional banks by Ethical Consumer magazine and the Move Your Money campaign. IBB is placed in the top ten of ethical current account providers, according to ratings compiled by the magazine http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/buyersguides/money/bankingcurrentaccounts.aspx
IBB was formed in 2004 and has attracted over 50,000 customers. The Bank offers the largest range of Sharia compliant retail financial products in the UK and these include current, savings and business banking accounts, Home Purchase Plans and Buy to Let Purchase Plans. IBB also works with carefully selected partners to offer Sharia compliant wealth management products and services.
In order to ensure that the products and services from IBB are genuinely Sharia compliant, IBB has in place a panel of respected Sharia Scholars, called the Sharia Supervisory Committee (SSC). Their work is supported by a dedicated Sharia Compliance Officer (SCO). Both the SCO and the SSC are trained experts in the interpretation of Islamic law and its application within modern day Islamic financial institutions. They both review every product and aspect of IBB’s business operations to ensure that Sharia compliance is always maintained.
