Interest-free Sharia MasterCard launched
The UK’s first sharia-compliant prepaid MasterCard was launched today.
The Cordoba Gold MasterCard does not charge or receive interest as this is in direct conflict with sharia Law.
The company also donates at least 10% of its profits to registered charities in the UK and abroad.
A company spokesman said: “Because this is a prepaid card, the customer pays no interest on their balance.
“The difference with this card is that Cordoba Financial Group does not earn any interest on the balance either.
[…]The Cordoba Gold card is available to UK residents aged 18 and over, and is being launched in London.
The UK’s Muslim population totals about two million and fully sharia-compliant banks have more than 30,000 customers across the UK.
Speaking at the launch, Ahmed Suleiman, CEO of Cordoba Financial Group, said: “Setting up a sharia financial company has been a great pleasure for us, although we have taken a David and Goliath approach.
“The trust we have garnered from our sharia advisers is something that money can’t buy, as is the trust we are going to engender with our customers.”
Nicholas Moy, chairman of the Cordoba Financial Group, added: “This is another product offered by London, which as you all know is the Islamic financial centre of Europe.”
He said that inshallah, or God willing, the company would be expanding into France and Germany “in due course.”