“A sovereign sukuk is the centrepiece of Prime Minister David Cameron’s bid to position London as a leading hub for Islamic finance, as competition heats up with financial centres in the Middle East and Asia.” This is what is behind the Cameron government’s utterly supine response to Islamic supremacist aggression and intimidation in the school system and elsewhere: he has to create a hospitable environment for Sharia as part of his plan to make London a global capital of Islamic finance. And if the freedom of speech and equality of rights for women and non-Muslims have to go, so be it.
“Britain to issue first Islamic bonds by Western sovereign,” by Bernardo Vizcaino, Reuters, June 13, 2014
The British government has mandated banks to arrange a five-year 200 million pound sukuk – the world’s first Islamic bond to be issued by a Western sovereign.
The Islamic bond could be issued in the coming weeks, subject to market conditions, The Treasury said in a statement late on Thursday.
The roadshow will start on June 17 in Jeddah and Kuala Lumpur, then moving to Riyadh, Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi, ending in London on June 20, lead banks said.
A sovereign sukuk is the centrepiece of Prime Minister David Cameron’s bid to position London as a leading hub for Islamic finance, as competition heats up with financial centres in the Middle East and Asia.
The bond would be issued before similar transactions planned by Luxembourg, Hong Kong and South Africa, all keen to diversify their funding sources and tap liquidity provided by increasingly wealthy Islamic investors.
In January, Britain appointed HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) to arrange the deal and it has now added four more banks to the syndicate: Qatar’s Barwa Bank, Malaysia’s CIMB (CIMB.KL: Quote, Profile, Research), National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD.AD: Quote, Profile, Research) and Standard Chartered [STANB.UL].
The sukuk will use an ijara structure, a sharia-compliant sale and lease-back contract, allowing the rental income of three central government offices to underpin the transaction.
In an ijara sukuk, a party leases equipment, buildings or other facilities to a client for an agreed rental price – a popular format among both sovereign and corporate issuers.
Short-term liquidity needsBritain has six full-fledged Islamic banks and over 20 institutions in the country that offer sharia-compliant financial services, which follow religious principles such as a ban on interest and gambling.
A sovereign sukuk could help Britain’s Islamic banks to help manage their short-term liquidity needs.
In March, The Bank of England said it was studying ways to increase the number of Sharia-compliant assets that Islamic banks can use in their liquidity buffers, a step towards reducing concentration risks in the sector.
Britain considered a sovereign sukuk six years ago, but that issuance never materialized as the Debt Management Office decided the structure was too expensive at the time.
Buraq says
These bonds might work for a short-term deal, but any agreement for a fixed return in markets that rise and fall on the strength of a rumor or a rogue statistic is foolhardy, to say the least.
Anyway, when the love affair between the Arab financiars and the infidel banking system comes to a bitter end, I’ll bet it’s the infidels who’ll get the ‘Allah-money’!
Clowns!
tpellow says
The political contradictions of PM Cameron (and of U.K political class), which all campaign for Turkey’s entry into E.U. and consequent further Islamization of Europe, can also be seen in the following conflicting bits of opportunistic Cameron dangerous stupidity-
1.)
“Be more British Cameron tells UK Muslims: PM issues powerful new pledge to combat extremism.
“He plans to use 800th anniversary of Magna Carta to reassert British values.
“Prime Minister said it is time to stop being ‘squeamish about Britishness.’
“He said refusing to accept British laws and the way of life is ‘not an option.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2658033/Be-British-Cameron-tells-UK-Muslims-PM-issues-powerful-new-pledge-combat-extremism.html#ixzz34ec7ntYu
2.)
“British fanatics heading to Iraq to join ISIS militants in their HUNDREDS amid fears ‘they could bring terror to UK'”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2656977/Britons-heading-Iraq-join-ISIS-militants-HUNDREDS-amid-fears-bring-terror-UK.html#ixzz34ehraHvU
tpellow says
-from ‘Money Jihad’ site-
“Terror finance & AML news: suggested reading”
http://moneyjihad.wordpress.com/2014/06/13/terror-finance-aml-news-suggested-reading/
Brazooka says
I pray David Cameron will one day answer for his crimes.
Ulysses says
Cameron should be hanged for treason, along with so many other Brits.
Notta_allah_followa says
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin:
The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.
In their short-sighted greed for cash, Britain once again secures its fate and shortens its life expectancy.
eib says
+1
Oh, the wisdom of a totalitarian. More prescient than ever when totalitarian is so near to Britain.
ben says
“If you want to hang the Capitalists, they will sell you even the rope.”
Lenin
Slobbering Fits says
I dont think that is going to mollify the muslims .
Brian Hoff says
To pay for WWII the UK have to issue bonds with no due date on then paidind at that time than hight rate of return of 5% interest. It is the interest on the debt that is causeing problen around the world as greedly international bankers are such nations dry of assets and wealth.