HSBC cater for various peoples needs in many different countries, here in the Middle East they cater very well for the western market. But then again here they also have Christmas Trees, decorations and churches, in addition to the fact i've received several Christmas Card from my muslim colleagues.
This Islamic Mortgage is essentially because they aren't allowed to borrow money officially, so it's simply circumventing the system by the bank owning the property and you paying them rent and at at the same time buying a share back from them each month until you've bought all the shares in the property and own it. Essentially it's still a mortgage with a bit of trickery.
