IslamicFinance.de

Last week, Britain mandated five banks to arrange a 200 million pound ($336 million) sukuk issue which could be issued in coming weeks, subject to market conditions. Britain's choice of HSBC, Qatar's Barwa Bank, Malaysia's CIMB, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered as arrangers appeared designed to ensure easy distribution and tight pricing. But the choice was notable for excluding all of Britain's six full-fledged Islamic banks; none was included in the mandate. That could reduce the impact of the issue in developing expertise and depth in Britain's Islamic banking sector. It may also limit British banks' access to the issue.