Excerpt:
New year 2014 will likely be very significant at least from the viewpoint of the London Stock Exchange, which stakes to become the world centre for Islamic finance. Earlier last year, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron announced the plan to issue sukuk – Islamic financial certificates often compared to Western bonds. The first sukuk certificate issued outside the Arab world should be launched in the upcoming days by the British Treasury. Its value is set to £200 million.
The decision of the British government to introduce Islamic finance as the first Western country was publicized at the World Islamic Economic Forum, which took place in London last year. Prime Minister Cameron said that Great Britain certainly wanted to be part of the dynamic development of Islamic finance as it is estimated that sukuk-based financial system grows 50 percent faster than its Western counterpart.