GSH have Platinum Sponsored and sent a senior delegation to participate in the Sukuk Summit 2007. Richard Thomas, Managing Director of GSH UK, who chaired the "ISLAMIC CAPITAL MARKETS - EU and UK DYNAMICS" session in the summit, also addressed a reception hosted by UK Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs Ian McCartney and attended by professionals as well as high level officials in the ministry. In his speech, Richard Thomas spoke about the growth of Islamic Finance in London and the HM Treasury, UKTI & Financial Services Authority's (FSA) role in that expansion, and invited interested professional groups to step forward and co operate with the UKTI Islamic Financial Services Sub Group that he chairs for the purpose of developing and promoting IFS in the UK.

The Summit comes at a time when London is successfully emerging as one of the hubs of the world's Sukuk market and Islamic finance services and in response to the recent announcement by UK Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown in which he stated that "to help widen the investment opportunities that are available to all and support substantial market innovation in Britain, the Government is introducing a new regime for Sukuk giving comparable tax treatment to conventional securitisations". These changes, according to Chancellor Brown, will "ensure that the City remains at the forefront of developments in financial markets around the world."

In addition to taking part of the conference, the delegation from GSH had a series of high level meetings with officials in the UK TI and the City of London, amongst which was John Stuttard, the Lord Mayor of London, regarding developments made by London in Shariah Compliant Finance as well as the Securities House and GSH's future plans and projects in London. According to Hosam Al Muzaiel, Deputy CEO of GSH, "We are excited by all innovations in Shariah compliant finance happening in London, as well as our potential role in these developments. It was important for SH and GSH to meet with officials in London as the City is quickly becoming a center of Shariah compliant finance. We wanted to show officials our commitment in taking part in these developments as they are sure to put London on the forefront of Shariah Compliant Finance thanks to the UK TI's support of new laws and regulations."

According to Richard Thomas" the Sukuk Summit had been such a great success, attracting over 300 registered delegates from the GCC, Europe, Japan, Malaysia and other countries just learning about Sharia Compliant financial services, that GSH has already committed to supporting a second conference to be announced in due course" . He added "the fast pace of development in Islamic Capital Markets instruments meant that more than just the Sukuk markets needed to be covered at the next event"

London has long been a friendly environment for Islamic financial services. In the UK the central bank and government encouragement to innovate for domestic Sharia compliant financial solutions has its roots in a policy of social inclusion, but also in its increasing understanding that real solutions and advantages lie in adopting these methods.

Sovereign and corporate Sukuk issuance has grown phenomenally in the last two years. The total outstanding in global Sukuk issuances currently is estimated at US$30 billion. Sukuk, being asset-backed instruments, are ideal for raising finance for infrastructure and real estate projects. The pipeline for such developments and projects, according to the consensus looks robust and with multi-sourced financing for larger projects now increasingly the norm in the GCC region, Sukuk issuance is projected to remain very strong in 2007 and to continue to grow strongly in the next few years.

In the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries, Sukuk issuances accounted for 81 per cent of the total new bond issuances in 2006, compared to just 26 per cent in 2005.