Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB), a leading shari'a advisor with scholarly presence in more than 7 countries from Middle East, is celebrating its 10th anniversary of service to clients.

In the last five years, SRB has intensified its dedication to serving clients by providing unlimited shari’a consultation, certification (Fatawa), Islamic industry jurisprudential foresight, and deep functional Shari’a compliance audit expertise, a statement said.

The company was established in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain when it saw opportunities to help Islamic Financial Institutes become more efficient in their Shari’a scholarly commissioning and Shari’a Audit processes.

The number of Islamic projects have been increasing at a phenomenal pace, so far SRB has completed more than 300 projects in the last four years alone, helping clients cover a wide spectrum of transactions ranging from sukuks (including trade finance sukuk), private equity funds, equity projects, trade finance transactions, margin trading, real estate developments, land funds, ICT deals, money market, textile, sports and pharma funds.

Yasser Dahlawi, CEO and the founder of the company said: “I take great pride in my team who are the heart and soul of our business. Immense credit goes to them for having moved SRB from a Shari’a boutique to a leading Industrial Shari’a Advisor with an expanding global footprint. We take this opportunity to appreciate our clients who understand and recognize the value of institutional Shari’a Advisors rather than individual scholars  - without their belief and partisanship this success would have never been possible.”

"Our strong, consistent growth and our expanding scholarly global footprint over the last ten years are a real compliment to the people of our organization,” he added.

Mansoor Ahmed, assistant general manager at SRB said: “Our core focus is on delivering exceptional value for Islamic financial institutions and those seeking to tap the Islamic market by offering them unlimited Shari’a support, regardless of their location in the world. We have been remarkably successful in this by ensuring we attract, develop and retain the best possible team of professionals and Shari’a experts.”

“We have marked the 10th anniversary with a special celebration dedicated to our staff, and it’s been a unique opportunity to reflect on our tradition of helping staff grow in the company and becoming the Islamic voice of our clients.” he said.

The announcement follows a strong performance in the third quarter of 2014 as revenues were 36 per cent higher than the revenues during the same period last year, while witnessing a 16 per cent growth in contractual revenue.

Over the past ten years, SRB has come to successfully serve GCC’s most ambitious organizations. It currently serves 21 per cent of the listed Co-operative Insurance segment for Saudi Arabia and 13 per cent of the CMA licensed and regulated Investment Companies.

Many of them also rank as leading financial organizations, but it also advises mid-sized businesses, organizations seeking IPO, and government agencies from a Shari’a perspective.  SRB has also managed to successfully expand its clientele portfolio to US, UK, Canada, France, Australia, Hong Kong, and Switzerland.  – TradeArabia News Service