Aimed at the growing number of borrowers who require their finances to comply by Shariah law – which forbids the payment of interest – eConveyancer has moved to gain a foothold in the sector.
With the Islamic Banking Corporation suggesting that the UK Islamic mortgage market could surpass the £1 billion profit barrier by 2009, Vanessa Blount, sales and marketing director at eConveyancer, admitted that the move had come as a result of the expected growth.
With market conditions continuing to tighten, it was also suggested that moves into more specialist lending sectors would appeal to mortgage intermediaries keen to boost their potential income stream.
He said: “There is growing demand for Islamic home finance and we want to ensure intermediaries have access to a specialist panel of conveyancers who understand the specific requirements of Islamic law.”
She added that the firm would be looking at other opportunities that could arise over the year, and said: “We intend to develop further services of this nature in the future, which cater for the needs of emerging new markets in the UK.”
Alan Lakey, senior partner at Highclere Financial Services, welcomed the addition and admitted that more firms would be looking to diversify into typically ‘niche markets’ the coming months.
He explained: “A service like this would be useful. There are mortgage intermediaries who probably deal exclusively within this sector, but for brokers who might do only one or two cases, having a panel of solicitors available like this could only be a help.”
