Is Islamic finance well-established in the UK?
Outside of the Muslim world, the United Kingdom Government has been especially supportive of the industry’s development in London and has enacted tax legislation and regulatory reform to facilitate the use of Shariah compliant structures. The Government has taken a lead amongst western nations in permitting the establishment of a Shariah compliant financial services sector (starting with the authorisation of the Islamic Bank of Britain in 2004). As a result of these measures, the UK Financial Services Authority expressed the view that London is emerging as a hub for the Islamic finance industry in its recent paper on the subject (“Islamic Finance in the UK”).
