Islamic bank to open at Oxford

This report is from Iran’s state-controlled Ahlul Bayt News Agency, but there is no reason to doubt its authenticity. Baroness Warsi’s statement that “London is already the Western capital of Islamic finance, but we want to go further – we want Britain to become a global hub of Islamic finance” gibes with David Cameron’s statement: “I want London to stand alongside Dubai as one of the great capitals of Islamic finance anywhere in the world.”

With Sharia finance will inevitably come more Sharia, but that seems to be just fine with David Cameron and the British government. They’ve barred Pamela Geller and me from entering the country, so no one will be raising annoying questions about Sharia oppression of women, gays, or non-Muslims. All will be well as Islamic Britannia marches confidently toward its glorious multicultural future.

Oh, and that wine shop in the photo will have to go.

“Islamic Bank to Open at Oxford,” from Ahlul Bayt News Agency, February 9:

DOHA (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Salah Jaidah, Chairman of Islamic Finance and Vice Chairman of MENA at Deutsche Bank and Chief Country Officer for Deutsche Bank Qatar, will be inaugurating the Oxford Islamic Banking and Finance Society at Oxford Union on February 12, 2014.

He will be joined by Nigel Denison, Managing Director of Bank of London and the Middle East (BLME), Azeemah Zaheer, Vice President of Gatehouse Bank, and Baroness Warsi, Chair of the Global Islamic Finance and Investment Group and the UK’s Ministerial lead on Islamic Finance.

Baroness Warsi said: “Islamic finance is growing 50 percent faster than traditional banking and Britain is committed to being part of that rise. London is already the Western capital of Islamic finance, but we want to go further – we want Britain to become a global hub of Islamic finance. “Key to this is attracting the brightest and the best to this sector. And the Oxford Islamic Banking and Finance Society will do just that – bringing the opportunities of one of the world’s fastest growing markets to students at one of the world’s top universities.

Last year was a big year for Islamic finance in Britain. We launched the government’s Islamic Finance Task Force; we hosted the World Islamic Economic Forum – the first outside the Muslim world; and we committed to issuing the first Islamic-compliant government bond, or sukuk. With the launch of societies like this, 2014 is set to be just as exciting a year for everyone involved in this burgeoning sector, Baroness added.