London, 8 May 2013 -BLME, the award winning international asset manager[1] is pleased to announce that its US $ Income Fund has been rated A by Moodys. This rating is an endorsement of the quality of the US $ Income Fund and BLME's asset management offering.

The Fund is for professional investors only and is structured as a Luxembourg domiciled SICAV-SIF.  It aims to provide a competitive level of income together with daily liquidity. The fund seeks to achieve this by investing in a diversified portfolio of high quality Islamic money market instruments and Sukuk.

Nigel Denison, Director and Head of Wealth Management at BLME, said:

"The A rating demonstrates that Islamic funds can compete with their conventional counterparts, a view that is supported by our top percentile performance ranking from Lipper Hindsight since the launch of the fund in 2009.This should also provide Islamic financial institutions with an additional highly rated  instrument with which to manage their liquidity ."

Jason Kabel, Head of Fixed Income, BLME added:

 "This Moody's rating brings international visability to US $ Income fund. The fund has consistently maintained an above benchmark return and we expect this performance, coupled with the rating , should bring a wider range of professional investors into the fund."

Waleed Al Omar, Head of Insitutional coverage added said:

"We expect this announcement of to be of particular interest to institutional investors  as it will provide an investment grade Sharia'a compliant asset liability product."

BLME's US$ Income Fund is an unregulated collective investment scheme and only available to professional clients or eligible counterparties.  Shares in this fund should only be purchased by persons with experience of participating in unregulated schemes or through a qualified professional adviser.  

About BLME
BLME is an independent wholesale Sharia'a compliant bank based in London and is a leading provider of alternative finance to the UK mid-market. BLME received FSA authorisation in July 2007 and is the largest of its peers in Europe. Led by a management team that brings together a combination of experienced international bankers and leading experts in Islamic finance, BLME has three key business areas; Corporate Banking, Treasury and Wealth Management, which includes Asset Management and Private Banking.

BLME is dedicated to offering innovative Islamic investment and financing products to businesses and high net-worth individuals in the European, US, Asian and MENA regions. To ensure that BLME's services and operations are wholly Sharia'a compliant, the Bank has a dedicated Sharia'a Supervisory Board ("SSB"). The SSB's role is to review contracts and agreements relating to all transactions ensuring that they are consistent with the principles of Islamic jurisprudence.

Regulatory Notice:  Past Performance is no guarantee of future results and current performance may be higher or lower than the performance data quoted. The Fund is a Specialised Investment Fund domiciled in Luxembourg and is defined as an "Unregulated Collective Investment Scheme" ("UCIS") in the UK. The promotion of a UCIS either within the UK or from the UK is severely restricted by statute. Consequently, this document is only made available to professional clients and eligible counterparties as defined by the FCA and also persons of a kind whom the Fund may lawfully be promoted by an authorised person by virtue of Section 238(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and COBS 4.12.1 R. Shares in the Fund should only be purchased by persons with experience of participating in unregulated schemes and any other person who receives this document should not rely on it. Bank of London and The Middle East plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.  Bank of London & The Middle East plc is a company registered in England & Wales, company number 5897786. Registered Office Sherborne House, 119 Cannon Street, London EC4N 5AT

[1] MENA Asset Management Awards 2013. Zawya and Thomson Reuters.

For More Information Contact:
Media contacts
Campbell Hood
Associate Director
Capital MSL
T: +971 4 427 6449
M: +971 55 109 253
E: campbell.hood@capitalmsl.com

Michelle Arnold
Head of Marketing & Communications
BLME, London
T: +44 (0)207 618 0078
M: +44 (0)741 234 5844
E: Michelle.Arnold@BLME.com

© Press Release 2013