DUBAI -  Dubai Bank plans to become a major global Islamic lender over the next five years through acquisitions and has set up a $5bn financing programme to aid expansion, its chief financial officer said yesterday.

The bank, a unit of Dubai Banking Group, has "pretty much the same aspirations" as group affiliate Noor Islamic Bank, which is aiming to be the world's largest Islamic bank within five years, Ahmed El Shall said in an interview.

"We have a specific strategy to be by 2011 a major force to contend with in the Islamic bank arena," he said. "(Within five years) I can see Dubai Bank almost on a global basis and represented in Europe, very much in Asia and Africa and at regional level in other GCC countries."

Dubai Banking Group, a unit of Dubai Holding which is owned by the ruler of Dubai, has a 40 percent stake in Bank Islam, Malaysia's oldest and largest Islamic bank, and a 40 percent stake in ACR Re-Takaful Holdings Ltd, the world's largest reinsurance company.

The group is looking to continue its expansion into Asia and Africa and would use the Dubai Bank brand to enter the banking sector in those markets, Shall said.