Noticed this bank new to the market recentley. any comment would be welcomed

Islamic Bank Britain launches Sharia'a loan facility
AFX

LONDON (AFX) - AIM-listed Islamic Bank of Britain PLC said it has launched a Sharia'a compliant personal 'loan' facility, making it the only provider of 'Halal' unsecured finance in the UK.

The new unsecured facility allows customers to generate cash funds between
1,000 and 20,000 using the Islamic principle of Murabaha with deferred
payments.

The end result is that consumers can get a finance facility similar
to a conventional loan but in accordance with the Muslim faith which prohibits
the use of interest.

I have no interest in IBB and have no advice to give either way.

Thought you might be interested in this piece in the Questor column (see this mornings Telegraph).

"Uphill for Islamic Bank of Britain

There are more than 2m Muslims in Britain who have until recently been ill-served by traditional financial institutions. The religion places strict conditions on the sort of products they can buy, not least banning the paying or receiving of interest.

Enter the Islamic Bank of Britain, which listed on Aim last August and is backed by a group of mainly Islamic shareholders, such as the Qatar International Islamic Bank. Yesterday, it announced a new financing arrangement that makes it the UK's only provider of "Halal" unsecured finance.

Competition has already emerged from more traditional institutions such as Lloyds TSB and HSBC, in addition to foreign banks such as Habib Bank. Unlike the western banks, though, IBB can claim to make no earnings at all from interest bearing products.

It does also offer some unique products, but there is nothing preventing rivals copying those that are successful. Added to which, IBB is not expected to be profitable until 2006 at the earliest. The shares yesterday finished down p at 36p. Even though the demographics look favourable, it has to be questioned what exactly IBB offers when blue chip institutions provide Sharia compliant products. There is little to recommend the shares. Avoid."

I can't agree

BBC news, I heard 50% growth in islamic mortgage is expected.

STAN us almost 7%. No news IMO

Hi guys 18 p for a bank now looks interesting. what do you guys think ? good time to go in or you think this is going down ?

was expecting it to go back to the 27p level where it has been for a long time i have been that would be a 9-10p (30%) gain

This one is still at least 2 years from profitability.
It will be a long wait although the downside is limited.

Ian

I have to express sorrow at my ignorance of Islamic culture and banking in particular. However, I suspect it is very straight, but worry that non-muslims would not bemefit from all the good bits. Further I wonder if there will ever be a dividend (it's against their principles, isn't it?)
The sp has shown some weakness, but I suspect their business will grow if it's properly conducted.
Unfortunately Islamic fundamentalists and "muslims" apper to be one and the same in many minds, something that will take many years to correct and even longer to erase. Therefore I wonder the wisdom of an equity investment here and, from this thread, I see the IPO was at 25p, - so today's price doesn't show much change.

In the last 5 years a lot of 'muslim money' has been invested in Islamic countries/companies because of fear of having funds/assets being frozen in US and EU. $ Billions have left US economy, which is reflected in weak dollor. I know a lot of people who have switched their banking to IBB recently although I am not sure how many have bought other services like mortgages etc.

This is a baby

Christians also are not allowed to charge interest, which they didn't used to do,
thats why there were a lot of jewish money lenders (they didn't follow christian laws).

So let me get this straight, The Islamic bank buys properties at market value and charges the same markup as you would pay on a similar interest deal which will be more than double the original price, the ancient christians would call this interest
and didn't do this practice, the Cambridge dictionary also defines this as usary and is forbidden in sharia law (you can't fool god or Allah)

I don't think all the muslims in britain will take this up, because a lot of them are not devout muslims but are westernised , and will want the cheapest deal on offer, which might happen to be HBOS.

Having said that, there will be enough people who join to make it a highly profitable business. However i don't think religion and capitalism should mix in this way, and when people start to get their homes repossessed or default on loan payments, the Islamic bank will come to be hated as much as the big four british banks.

Some big banks are also offering the same service.

One thing everyone should remember for those unaware of asian culture, is that
Asians do not borrow up to the eyeballs in debt like british people, but save and buy collectively, they also hold a lot of wealth in real currency (Gold!).
So don't expect the loan book of Islamic bank to look like the US budget deficit.

Good look guys i'm not investing!

The name (Islamic) makes IBB one step ahead of any competitor. IBB has the infrastructure and also received support from Islamic community and investors.

hlyeo98
And your point is.

no need for words, the chart says it all.....

You can see for yourself

It is not a big buy by a director - 6500


Islamic Bank of Britain director Mohsen Moustafa picks up 0.024 pct stake in co - AFX

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Islamic Bank of Britain PLC said its director Mohsen Moustafa has bought 100,000 shares at 0.065 stg each, acquiring a 0.024 pct stake in the company.

I bet he's a bit pissed off, he could have saved a grand and bought today.

1.4m buys and only 250k sells but price ends up down 0.75p..??!