The world's local Islamic bank?

The UK based HSBC began offering through its Amanah Finance division an Islamic mortgage program and shari`a-compliant bank accounts at select UK branches. Some shari`a scholars have advised Muslims to take out conventional mortgages when shari`a compliant agreements are unavailable, and the new HSBC program seeks to capitalize on this market while serving the needs of Muslim home buyers. The HSBC Islamic mortgage program should be competitively priced compared to conventional mortgages. The mortgage agreement is such that HSBC buys the property and leases it to the customer typically for 25 years; the customer makes monthly payments towards rent and towards ownership of the property.