* Arab Banking Corp to tap demand for new sources of capital
* Will focus on the wholesale market
* Expects most opportunities in UK, France
By Cecilia Valente
LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Bahrain-based bank ABC said it will start to market Islamic financing products to European clients left hamstrung by the sustained gridlock in the credit markets.
The firm has until now only actively marketed mainstream products to clients of ABC International Bank Plc, the London-headquartered European division of Arab Banking Corporation.
"We are aiming to target the wholesale market, especially companies in Europe that are interested in seeking Islamic finance solutions, for example sukuk, leasing, and general corporate facilities," said Faisal Alshowaikh, the newly- appointed head of Islamic financial services at ABC International.
Islamic finance in Europe has been touted as a beneficiary of the credit crunch as companies seek new ways to raise capital, but progress has been piecemeal, partly hampered by punitive tax structures.
Major individual deals have seen Qatar's sovereign wealth fund buy into Barclays and Abu Dhabi state-linked firm Aabar acquire a stake in Daimler, but Europe is still to see its first corporate sukuk, or Islamic bond.
Islamic law forbids the charging of interest, demands transactions are backed by tangible assets, forbids speculation and excludes products such as alcohol.
Wholesale banking is the biggest market for Islamic finance with over $420 billion in assets. Last month consultant Oliver Wyman estimated wholesale Islamic banking assets would reach $1 trillion by 2012.
Alshowaikh -- responsible for expanding ABC's Islamic finance operations in Europe -- said the UK and France were the two countries offering most opportunities for Sharia services.
"There is certainly an interest on the government level in the UK, and recently France, to progress on the Islamic finance agenda," he told Reuters.
The British government has recently changed its fiscal regime to avoid potential double taxation on sukuk issuance, while France has signalled it will soon launch an Islamic retail bank and that one of its leading banks is poised to issue a sukuk.
ABC International's European clients are mainly companies conducting business in the Middle East. The bank's Islamic finance strategy will be to offer products such as Islamic leasing and eventually debt issuance advice.
ABC's major investors are the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Central Bank of Libya and the Kuwait Investment Authority, each of whom hold a little under 30 percent. (Reporting by Cecilia Valente; Editing by Rupert Winchester)