Islamic banking has not generally bedded down easily into the UK. Five sharia-qualified banks have received licences and none can yet claim to be either a household name or a challenge to the wider banking system. But Gatehouse Bank, the latest to receive its UK banking licence, argues that a considerable niche in asset management is being filled by UK sharia-compliant institutions, and that there is money to be made.
Gatehouse, which opened its doors in 2008, has $2bn of Middle Eastern, European and Asian money to invest in the property sector. Its portfolio ranges from buying leases on corporate headquarters to developing greenfield sites for housing, student housing and affordable housing. Gatehouse leaves the sharia-compliant retail banking sector to the other institutions, says its executive chairman Fahed Boodai, who accepts that Gatehouse does not have a competitive advantage in the consumer segment for sharia banking.
