Almaty, 23 October. Bank CenterCredit's board of directors has called an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders for 25 November to consider the bank's intention to obtain a licence for Islamic banking operations, amendments to its charter and candidates for an Islamic finance principles board.
Islamic banking is based on Sharia rules: the bank does not charge interest on loans but earns from trade and partnership deals — for example, it buys goods and resells them to the client at a mark-up, or shares profits from a project with the client. The Islamic finance principles board checks whether the bank's products comply with these rules.
Halyk Bank and Otbasy Bank are also entering this segment, Nationalbusiness notes; the meeting materials have been published on the KASE website.
What it means: Another large commercial bank is preparing to offer Islamic financial products, and Kazakhstan's Islamic banking market is expanding with major players.
Who benefits: Clients who do not use interest-bearing products for religious reasons get more choice; the bank gets a new client base.
Background: On 22 October Uzbekistan's Alif placed Islamic bonds — sukuk — on the AIFC's AIX exchange.
List of sources used: QazTrading, Nationalbusiness
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
