Dawnay, Day has been impressive over the past 12 months. The main competition came from UBS, which launched two investment products in September. But Dawnay, Day wins this award because of its significant range of products and innovation, experienced team of employees, and wide-ranging presence which spreads from the Gulf, through India and southeast Asia.
In 2006, DDCAP, the Islamic finance branch of Dawnay, Day, arranged more than $3.5 billion of Shariah-compliant finance for institutions and international corporates. Structures include innovative Shariah-compliant currency and profit rate hedging products.
New memberships to metal exchanges, including the London Metal Exchange and the Platinum and Palladium Exchange, have enabled DDCAP to underpin transactions with a genuine asset flow necessary for Islamic finance transactions.
In December 2006 these memberships enabled a $1 billion five-year syndicated murabaha facility to be arranged for a large Saudi Arabian corporate client. In 2007 Dawnay, Day hopes to further diversify its asset flow, in which steel is considered likely to play an important role in the future. In 2006 Dawnay, Day expanded into Malaysia, which became the first Asian country to use Islamic commodity asset structures.