Islamic bank pauses work with ethical UK fintech firm after historic founder ‘arms deals’ attempt allegation
Gatehouse Bank says it has put award-winning partnership on hold, following a media report about Algbra’s founder and chief executive
An Islamic bank has paused its award-winning property payment account partnership with a fintech firm after its founder reportedly “previously sought to set up arms deals”, Hyphen can reveal.
Gatehouse Bank told Hyphen it last week took the decision to “pause” its “arrangement” with the UK-based ethical fintech firm Algbra — just two months after the firms’ collaboration won the “most innovative mortgage product” accolade at The Banker publication’s Islamic banking awards.
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The London-registered, sharia-compliant bank’s move comes after the Financial Times reported allegations Algbra founder and chief executive Zeiad Idris had “previously sought to set up arms deals with Jan Marsalek”, a businessman exposed by journalists in 2020 — and subsequently by British authorities — as a fraudster and Russian spy.
The FT reported that it had seen correspondence suggesting that Idris, while working to establish Algbra, offered in 2018 to assist Marsalek in raising a $2.75bn fund to “acquire Russian military technology and sell it overseas”. Marsalek was an executive at fintech company Wirecard at the time, but later fled to Russia following the German payment processing firm’s collapse.
According to the FT, Algbra said it has had no relationship with Marsalek or Wirecard since it started trading, and Idris reportedly said he has had no contact with the former since Marsalek became a fugitive — before his work for Moscow was publicly known.
Idris also told the FT that he was a younger man when he first met Marsalek and had since changed.
Despite these clarifications, a number of press releases involving Gatehouse and Algbra’s partnership had been deleted from their websites.
But some archived versions were still available online.
Bloomberg reported in May 2025 that Gatehouse was partnering with Algbra to provide new digital accounts for overseas residents looking to invest in the UK property market.
In a since-deleted press release from January 2026 — featuring quotes from Charles Haresnape, Gatehouse’s chief executive, and Idris — the bank said its -“strategic partnership” with Algbra would give UK expats and international residents buying property in England and Wales the chance to apply for a UK payment account with Algbra as part of the home finance process.
This aimed to resolve a “common challenge faced by individuals residing overseas looking to buy a property in the UK: the requirement to hold a UK payment account”, Gatehouse said.
In another deleted press release from May, Gatehouse shared that it had been recognised with the “most innovative mortgage product”’ award by The Banker, a finance publication, “for its UK payment account in partnership with Algbra”.
“We look forward to expanding our partnership with Algbra,” Haresnape said at the time.
Gatehouse told Hyphen: “Following an internal review, we have made the decision to pause our arrangement with Algbra.
“We remain focused on increasing our support for homebuyers, landlords and savers by providing Shariah-compliant, ethical finance.”
Gatehouse provided no reason for pausing its partnership with Algbra but confirmed the decision was taken last week.
A spokesperson later added that Gatehouse is “no longer accepting new requests for an Algbra account through the bank’s application process”.
But they said “any applications that have already been completed or that are currently being processed as part of our arrangement with Algbra will be honoured”.
A key principle in Islamic finance is to avoid investing in industries perceived to be haram, such as weapons.
An Algbra spokesperson said: “The initial phase of our contract with GHB [Gatehouse Bank] has concluded. We continue to service existing GHB customers for sharia-compliant and ethical finance services without disruption.
“With regards to the recent piece in the FT, we are undertaking legal instruction on the detail in the article, which has been taken out of context. On advice from counsel, we will not be commenting any further with regard to the story.”
Idris was approached for comment.
