deVere Mortgages and Al Rayan Bank have entered into a strategic partnership to offer Sharia-compliant mortgage alternatives to the growing number of expats looking to purchase property in the UK.
The alliance follows deVere Mortgages’ reporting of an average 55% week on week increase in mortgage enquiries since the UK’s EU referendum, with the majority of these applications from people living in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman (GCC countries).
Mike Coady, managing director of deVere Mortgages, said: “We have seen growing demand from our Group’s 80,000 clients around the world for Sharia-compliant mortgages.
“We have been consistently impressed by the products and services delivered by Al Rayan Bank, and we look forward to expanding together as a result of this partnership.
“The tie-up with Al Rayan Bank will add real value to our core market, which is Muslim and non-Muslim buyers based overseas who are looking to purchase property in Britain.
“This is because, being an Islamic Bank, Al Rayan Bank’s home finance does not involve interest, which is prohibited in Islam; additionally they do not charge arbitrary fees to customers, meaning that up-front costs tend to be significantly lower than with many conventional banks. Also they do not automatically assume that those living overseas are ‘high risk’ as many other banks do; and they don’t insist on clients being employed by large multinationals.
“There’s a clear synergy in the partnership, with Al Rayan Bank – the UK’s largest Islamic retail bank, having increased its expat financing by 141% since 2013, and with deVere Mortgages – backed by one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations, being launched as a standalone brand in 2015 due to soaring demand from overseas clients.”
Sultan Choudhury, CEO of Al Rayan Bank, added: “I am delighted to announce the strategic partnership between Al Rayan Bank and deVere Mortgages. As one of the world’s leading independent financial consultancies, deVere Mortgages will help us to reach an even wider group of people who are looking for ethical, Sharia compliant home and property finance.
“We will focus in particular on British expats who, for a variety of reasons, can find it difficult to obtain home finance in the UK whilst they are working overseas. We identified the expat market as an underserved sector some time ago, targeting resource towards it accordingly. As a result we have experienced significant growth in this area of our business.”
