From left: Khalid El Gibaly, Regional Head of Consumer Banking, UAE and Middle East, Standard Chartered Bank; Stephen Richards Evans, Regional Head of Private Banking, Europe, Middle East, India, Africa and Americas, Standard Chartered; and Wasim Akhtar Saifi, Group Head of Islamic Banking, Consumer Banking, Standard Chartered Saadiq. Standard Chartered Private Bank recently launched a comprehensive suite of Islamic financial solutions for its clients. The solutions include fiduciary deposits, property financing, equities, Islamic fixed income instruments (sukuk), mutual funds (including Exchange-Traded Funds), third-party structured products and discretionary services. These solutions are now available to clients across the Private Bank's booking centers in London, Geneva, Jersey and Dubai. Islamic banking has become a significant part of the mainstream as the gap between conventional and Islamic banking solutions has narrowed substantially. Islamic banking assets, which are growing twice as fast as conventional banking assets, are expected to reach $1.1 trillion globally in 2012, up 33 percent from 20101. With the fast development of this industry, Muslim High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) are increasingly expecting Shariah compliance in managing their wealth, making Islamic wealth management solutions a key market need. Standard Chartered Private Bank's Islamic financial solutions will help fill the industry gaps in the availability of Shariah- compliant wealth management products and provide additional impetus for growth in the Islamic banking industry as it deepens the product set and brings into its folds a whole new customer segment. Khalid El Gibaly, Regional Head of Consumer Banking, UAE and Middle East, Standard Chartered Bank, said: "We have identified a latent demand among our existing and prospective private banking clients for Islamic private banking solutions. With our deep understanding of the region, strong international footprint across the world's most dynamic markets and a wide experience in Islamic Banking, we are well-placed to meet this need.The launch of our Global Islamic Private Banking offering out of the region is testament to our strategic focus on the Middle East region. Our new offering is not only innovative and unique in the region; it also aims to bridge the service gap between conventional and Islamic banking.” – SG
