More Evidence of the Failure of Shariah Banking in the UK: HSBC Drops Shariah Mortgages
Long-time readers of SFW may recall some posts from the past two years alluding to the fact that, despite a great deal of hype, Shariah-compliant banking is failing in the United Kingdom.
For instance, in June of 2010, we posted a report from the Australian media quoting industry insiders in the UK admitting that Shariah-compliant banking products were not attracting customers:
At that time, HSBC, the West’s leader in promoting Shariah, was already reducing staff and scaling back its commitment to Shariah banking inside the UK.
Shortly thereafter, Moody’s investor services blamed the lack of interest (no pun intended) in Shariah banking on a lack of support by the British government and a weak economy. This of course was a preposterous claim. Any market that requires government support is likely to be questionable at best and the recession that Moody’s fretted about hit non-Shariah banking just as hard…
The continued failure of Shariah banking in the UK continues apace today with the new revelation that HSBC has decided to scrap Shariah mortgages altogether…
The end of HSBC’s offering of Shariah mortgages in the UK is no surprise, but their decision to scrap that line in the UAE, Bahrain and Bangladesh is a new wrinkle. It is likely a sign that Western financial institutions with Shariah divisions are continuing to have trouble competing against native Shariah institutions in Muslim nations. After all, in Qatar, the regime kicked Western banks out of the market altogether to give a boost to their own (largely government owned) banks.
This certainly warrants watching. There is no bigger cheerleader for Shariah in the West than the shameless shills at HSBC…
http://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/mortgages/hsbc-scraps-sharia-compliant-mortgages/1059074.article
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