BLME ties up $150mn private capital

LONDON-BASED: The Bank of London and The Middle East said it has completed its scheduled private placement of $150 million. (Getty Images)

British Sharia-compliant bank, The Bank of London and The Middle East (BLME) said on Tuesday it had completed its scheduled private placement of 75 million British pounds ($148.9 million), extending its fully capital base to £250 million.

The public bank, founded last year, said the additional capital was provided by existing and new investors from a range of international jurisdictions and would provide it with a greater capacity to meet financing requirements in the burgeoning Islamic finance market in the UK.

"At a challenging time for global financial markets, demand for Islamic finance in the UK remains robust to the extent that it has exceeded our initial growth projections over the past year," said Humphrey Percy, BLME's chief executive.

"The additional round of fund raising will enable us to capitalise on this demand and strengthen our market leading position ahead of the competition."

BLME, which is based in the City of London, was launched in the UK on July 9 last year, having received authorisation from regulators the Financial Services Authority to trade as an independent and wholesale Sharia-compliant bank.

Backed by a Sharia-supervisory board, the British public bank focuses on various wholesale banking sectors include corporate banking, private banking, investment management, investment banking and Islamic treasury and financial institution services.

Since receiving its banking license in July 2007, BLME has completed a variety of deals resulting in total assets of £297million at the end of December 2007, it said in the statement.

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