Bank of London and The Middle East, the London-based Shariah bank, has launched an internet-based currency trading platform which aims to provide clients with direct access to multiple currencies for making overseas transactions.

BLMEFX, a Shariah-compliant web-based FX trading platform, aims to allow corporate and private clients to have instant access to a large number of currencies, “as if they were using a conventional system”, the firm said in a statement. BLME believes this would make the process much simpler and more cost effective.

In a Shariah-compliant environment currency trading is used to support cross-border transactions rather than to realise a profit, according to the firm. Under Shariah law all currency transactions must be backed by a commodity, which has so far made currency trading and its related transactions complex and expensive.

“Given the increasingly international scope of Islamic finance, there was an urgent need to develop a Shariah-compliant FX platform to take the strain out of cross-border transactions,” said Humphrey Percy, chief executive of BLME.

The trading platform, which has been approved by BLME’s Shariah supervisory board, is non-commission based. Clients can trade without paying commission and receive the full amount of foreign currency purchased directly into their BLME account.

Bank of London and The Middle East offers private banking, asset management, corporate advisory and corporate banking, and has a markets division.