Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company (SRC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Public Investment Fund, said it is working with Shariyah Review Bureau to develop attractive long and short-term financing opportunities for the kingdom’s economic development.

These offerings are geared towards Islamic banks, mortgage financing companies and real estate originators and are intended to reinforce the optimisation of institutional capital and stimulate credit by further incentivizing the house-lending sector, said a statement from SRC.

Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB) is a leading sharia advisory company of the Middle East helping Islamic financial institutions in product structuring, sharia certification, sharia compliance audits and also setting up sharia boards.

SRB manages and supervises the Sharia Committee and the supervisory affairs from product reviews to certification and ongoing Sharia Audits for the SRC’s refinancing business, it stated.

CEO Fabrice Susini said the company was working on completing a number of portfolio financing and acquisition strategies with SRB and hoped that these instruments would allow more real-estate financing businesses to secure stable funding.

“Our Murabaha and Ijara based instruments have begun assisting Islamic mortgage financing companies and soon we hope, banks, all vital to the kingdom’s housing economy helping them freeing up balance sheet for further growth in the local housing sector,” remarked Susini.

Licensed by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, SRC has an initial capital of SR5 billion for its Saudi mortgage refinancing activities.

Elie Chahwan, the chief financial officer at SRC, said: "We want to help create a robust financing structure for the local mortgage origination process so that real-estate financing businesses have the funding and support to continue doing business with affordable mortgage credit and ultimately help the Islamic industry move forward."

The SRB has 34 sharia scholars from 18 countries and a dedicated team of in-house sharia consultants and sharia auditors continuously engaging with clients throughout the investment lifecycle.

SRB chief executive Yasser Dahlawi said the board recognises the need for SRC to have a dedicated resource available at its disposal so as to help them address practical refinancing challenges in light of Sharia compliance.

"Our sharia advisory methodology enables SRC to communicate directly with our scholars and consultants efficiently and cost effectively. We remain thrilled to continue working with an organisation like SRC and help them serve the economic development of the kingdom," he added.-TradeArabia News Service