The recently launched bridging lender also hopes to expand into Europe in year five, with Germany and France its preferred locations.

A £20m credit line has already been provided to Offa by a sharia-compliant financial services institution, and the lender is also in the process of securing a further £100m with another Islamic finance institution.

This extra funding will be used to serve the lender’s six- to 12-month origination programme which will launch a further three products — development, planning and refurbishment bridging loans — which are expected to be introduced in January.

Offa’s two current products include a residential bridging loan at a maximum 75% finance to value (FTV) and a commercial bridging loan at a maximum 65% FTV.

In an exclusive interview with Bridging & Commercial, Bilal Ahmed, head of operations at Offa (pictured above), described the sharia-compliant bridging market as “totally underserved”.

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“The Islamic market — in the short-term, unregulated market — is totally untapped.”

He said he saw the sector as a huge area for growth.

“If you look at the market, the research we have done shows that the consumers’ perception of Islamic finance is that it's expensive, compared to conventional [forms of finance],” Bilal added.

“Sharia-compliant funding does not need to be expensive … and it's not complicated, so all this research is showing that the consumer needs a better-educated guide to make it simple and as easy as possible.”

Commenting on the launch of Offa in the current uncertain economic environment, Bilal stated that despite the current uncertainty, financial activities weren’t going to stop.

“[Uncertainty] might create a lot more opportunities, definitely in the default market.

“I think you'll see a lot of clients defaulting.

“Will we do a bridge loan for a defaulting client on their revised revaluation? Yes, we will.

“So we actually see the market as a good market, a good time to launch.”