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| Abu Dhabi Islamic plans expansion |
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Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank is pushing ahead with expansion plans in the UAE and wider region as buoyant demand for Islamic banking continues despite global turmoil, its chief executive said yesterday. Abu Dhabi Islamic plans to open six new branches in the UAE before April and is actively seeking acquisitions and branch expansion in other Gulf and Middle East countries, Tirad Mahmoud said. The UAE central bank and finance ministry have together set up Dh120bn ($32.67bn) of emergency funding facilities to help them cope with a global credit crisis that has reduced access to and increased the cost of funding. Abu Dhabi Islamic “has not availed a single dirham” of government funding and was not over-leveraged, acting as a net lender on the country’s tight interbank market, Mahmoud said.
“The bank’s liquidity position is strong,” he said. “We have not slowed lending but we will be prudent and selective.” The Islamic bank’s third-quarter profit soared 57.8 percent and the lender expects 2009 will be a “good year” even as the global financial crisis spreads, Mahmoud said. “The economy has changed, the market is tougher but opportunities are there and we will capitalize on that,” Mahmoud said.
UAE bank assets that comply with Islamic law, including a ban non the receipt of interest, now account for less than 20 percent of total bank assets, Mahmoud said. “Demand for Islamic banking is growing in the UAE. The pie is growing bigger ... it will surpass 50 percent within 10 years,” he said. This year alone, Noor Islamic Bank, partly owned by Dubai ruler H H Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and Ajman Bank, whose founders include the ruling family of the emirate of Ajman, started operations. |
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| There are currently six million Muslims in Kenya. The bank has also recently announced special accounts for women and children. |
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