Gulf Finance Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dubai's Shuaa Capital, has obtaining a new operating licence from Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (Sama) and will offer sharia-compliant leasing products in the kingdom.

The licence will allow the firm to address a funding gap for small businesses and help to finance cross-border deals between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Shuaa Capital said in a statement on Tuesday.

The move is part of growing efforts to provide Islamic financing options to small businesses in the region. Last month, an investment group based in Dubai and Luxembourg launched an Islamic trade receivables financing platform catering to small businesses.

Gulf Finance Corp, which had previously been operating in Saudi Arabia as an instalment financing company under the ministry of commerce, had to commit a minimum of 100 million riyals ($26.7 million) in capital to qualify for its new licence from the central bank, the statement said.

It will offer various forms of ijara financing, a common sale and lease-back contract in Islamic finance. Last week, Shuaa Capital said it would seek a stand-alone public rating for its business of lending to smaller companies, which would be the main consumer of public debt for the group. 

“As one of the first non-bank lenders operating in the GCC, we see tremendous potential in the Saudi Arabian SME market,” said Sheikh Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum, executive chairman of Shuaa Capital and chairman of Gulf Finance Corporation in Saudi Arabia.

“Our Sharia-compliant products and services see a strong demand from SMEs in KSA. We would like to take this opportunity to thank SAMA for granting us this licensing, which will enable Gulf Finance Corporation to better serve the Kingdom’s SME sector by providing access to a wider range of products to finance its growth.”

“We hope to address this gap in financing and provide solutions to SMEs to fund their expansion into new markets, benefiting from our capabilities to finance cross-border deals between KSA and the UAE,” added Sheikh Maktoum. -Reuters and TradeArabia News Service