Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) has committed £20 million ($31 million) capital injection to Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB), taking QIIB’s stake in the bank to over 80 per cent.

The additional capital will allow IBB to leverage its established retail brand in the Islamic finance sector to increase sales of key products, such as the recently launched Islamic alternative to mortgages the IBB Home Purchase Plan.

IBB was the first Sharia compliant retail bank to be licensed in the UK and today is the only Sharia compliant stand alone retail bank currently permitted to operate in Europe. The bank has grown its deposits, assets and customers every year since its launch in September 2004. The Bank reported customer deposits of over £186 million, customer financing at £46 million and nearly 50,000 customers in its 2009 financial statements.

The UK has led the Western world in the promotion of Sharia compliant financial services in recent times and this investment in IBB reinforces the UK position as the leader in the development of Islamic financial services globally.  This investment continues the trend of recent Qatari investments in UK companies and real estate and is a further vote of confidence in the growing UK Islamic banking sector.

“QIIB was instrumental in establishing IBB as the first Islamic bank in the West and this capital injection demonstrates its continuing commitment to IBB. This is very good news for IBB’s shareholders, staff and customers as well as for the Islamic Banking sector in the UK,” stated Gerry Deegan, managing director at IBB.

“This investment in IBB allows us to grow our business and remain the pioneer in providing innovative Islamic finance products to Retail customers in the UK and beyond,' added Sultan Choudhury, commercial director, QIIB.-TradeArabia News Service