IslamicFinance.de

Randall & Quilter has accepted to buy Principle Insurance for £4.275m cash. Principle Insurance was launched and was given Financial Services Authority approval in 2008 with the purpose of meeting the motor and home insurance needs of the country's Muslim population as the only Shariah-compliant insurance provider in Britain at the time.
It has been in run-off since October 2009. Randall & Quilter has a portfolio of nine insurance companies in run-off, from the UK, US and Europe, with net assets £72.2m beginning with 30 June 2011.

Following the partnership between Sesame and Islamic Bank of Britain for Islamic mortgage alternative, Sesame Network members will have the opportunity to access the full range of IBB’s Sharia compliant mortgage alternative, the Home Purchase Plan.
IBB has an intermediary helpline (0121 456 7842) and the only dedicated intermediary Islamic finance website (www.ibbintermediaries.com) in the UK. Furthermore, brokers will be supported by the Bank’s intermediary team in earning ompetitive procuration fees.

The Islamic Bank of Britain is being acquired by the Qatari International Islamic Bank in an unconditional cash offer.
Under the terms of the deal, shareholders in the Islamic Bank of Britain can receive one penny in cash for each share. The Offer represents a 70.4% discount to the closing price of 3.38p per share last night.
The directors of the Islamic Bank of Britain have said that the terms of the offer are fair and reasonable.

From Australia to Britain and even France, which recently banned the face-veil, Western economies are adjusting their laws to encourage growth in the Islamic finance sector they hope will attract wealthy Gulf investors.
Enthusiasm in the US has been tempered by politics, however, which could slow the growth of Islamic finance and push business from the oil exporting Gulf elsewhere. Islamic finance has faced scrutiny in the US, with critics suggesting the $1tn industry was a front to funnel funds to terrorists or a plot by Muslims to spread Shariah principles, which include a ban on interest.
The US Federal Reserve has launched an Islamic finance study group and is seeking consultants within the Islamic finance industry.
The US Treasury has launched the Islamic Finance 101 programme to teach government agencies about Shariah-compliant business.
The programme is run with Harvard’s Islamic Finance Project, which was created in 1995 to study Islamic finance from a legal perspective and foster collaboration among scholars inside and outside the Muslim world.
But these initiatives have also been politicised.

Islamic Bank of Britain has joined forces with the Alliance of Mortgage Packagers and Distributors (AMPD) to offer the full range of its Sharia-compliant mortgages. IBB’s Home Purchase Plan (HPP) allows those consumers seeking a mortgage, home finance without the use of interest.
Islamic Bank of Britain’s Home Purchase Plan (HPP) will give AMPD’s members an alternative mortgage product which is transparent and easy to use, competitive enough to square up to conventional mortgages and has the leading edge of being an ethical product.