The award-winning Shariah consulting and product design team of Dar Al Istithmar has been absorbed by the BMB Group to create BMB Islamic.

Dar Al Istithmar is a majority-held subsidiary of Deutsche Bank and BMB Islamic will be a full service, Islamic-focused product design and placement institution.

The BMB Group, whose holding company is an offshore company in Brunei, is an Islamic asset management and financial advisory firm (a broad-based, commercial multi-family office with asset management, oil and gas and financial advisory capabilities) with growing operations in the GCC, Europe and Asia.

Through its aggressive multiple investment strategies, BMB has established a significant local presence in the GCC and ASEAN in the last 18 months and is rapidly expanding into the wider OIC sphere.

Through its unique investment platform, BMB is currently engaged in a $5 billion deployment across the alternative asset spectrum and is exploiting diverse investment opportunities through its core businesses of asset management, hydrocarbons and real estate, developing strategic relationships throughout the Islamic world.

The team's significant move from Dar Al Istithmar will strengthen BMB's leadership in innovative Islamic financial technology and create what many believe will be the world's leading product design team capable of working with market-leading western and Islamic financial institutions.

Led by internationally renowned Islamic economist Dr Humayon Dar, the team is noted for its combination of distinguished Shariah product engineers and the most respected Shariah Supervisory Committee in the industry.

Under Dr Dar's leadership, the team has advised several international governmental and private organisations on Shariah banking and finance. The team has also provided extensive training and support for the senior management of several Islamic Banks. It is estimated that the team advised in the set up of over $20 billion in product volume.

'Shariah has become a buzz word in financial circles. Although misused and generally misunderstood, it is a high profile concept at a time when the Islamic financial services industry is moving towards greater legitimacy. Although we have been fortunate enough to have had associations with an outstanding institution such as Deutsche Bank, one hears 'Shariah-compliance' used by many other parties whose motivations are less than sincere and could be described as disingenuous,' said Dr Dar.Trade Arabia News Service