Al Rayan Bank Delivers Record Year Following Renewed Focus on Commercial and Premier Banking

Al Rayan Bank, the UK’s leading Islamic bank, delivered a record financial performance in the year ending 31 December 2022 following a new strategic focus on commercial and premier banking.

The bank, which employs more than 200 people in the UK, recorded pre-tax profits of £20.80m in the period, up from £9.63m in 2021.

Total asset value remained steady year-on-year at £2.40bn (2021: £2.26bn) in line with the bank’s strategy, with the cost to income ratio falling to 62% (2021: 79%), placing the bank among the most efficient organisations in its peer group.

The bank says that its new strategy, implemented in 2022, is now well-embedded and that its success is demonstrated by the latest results.

The value of its commercial property finance asset book increased to £792m in 2022, marking an 18% year-on-year rise on 2021, and 41% on 2020, driven by supporting high value real estate investors with funding for new purchases, re-finance, release additional finance, build to sell, built to rent and Permitted Development Rights (PDR) across 10 developments.

Giles Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer of Al Rayan Bank, asserts the bank’s strong financial standing and promising potential for further profit growth in 2023. He shared, “Our focus has always been to create long-term sustainable growth, so we can deliver the best services for our customers, a supportive and nurturing environment for our colleagues and sustained and long-term returns for our shareholders.”

“Last year was transformative for Al Rayan Bank. We repositioned our business against a challenging economic backdrop for the UK economy and delivered our strongest ever financial performance, which is testament to the strength of our strategy, our competitive product offering and our mission to make it simple for our customers to bank with us.

“We are well-placed to continue this growth through 2023, and our position is further strengthened by our long-term, high-grade credit rating (Aa3(cr)), our ownership and our status as a private institution, which means we are protected from volatility in capital markets.”

“Al Rayan Bank has never been in a healthier position, and we’re looking forward to building on the benefits that our new strategy has delivered. We will continue our proud legacy of being not only the oldest Sharia compliant bank in the UK, but also the most successful.”