Al Rayan looks beyond the Shire with sukuk RMBS

Standard Chartered
By Owen Sanderson
29 Jan 2018

Al Rayan Bank has started marketing Tolkien Funding Sukuk No. 1, the first UK RMBS issue to be structured on Islamic finance principles. Islamic banks can’t access central bank facilities which means the wholesale markets are fuelling the firm’s ambitious expansion plans, writes Owen Sanderson.

As Islamic law prohibits the charging of interest, Islamic finance involves creating structures which allow a debt-like return — but from participation in a joint economic venture financing real assets. Money itself cannot be the product.

Al Rayan is an entirely Islamic bank, with most of its assets in the form ...

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