Pakistan's sixth full-fledged Islamic commercial bank, First Dawood Islamic Bank Limited (FDIBL), has officially commenced its operations on Friday. Professor Mufti Munib-ur-Rehman (The Shari'ah Advisor of FDIBL) recited the Holy Quran and Mst Hanifa Siddique Dawood, mother of Rafique Dawood, (Chairman FDIBL) inaugurated the bank.

The bank is the result of an initiative of First Dawood Group who teamed up with Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah, Unicom Investment Bank, Bahrain, Al Safat Investment Company, Kuwait, Gargash Enterprises (LLC), Dubai, Azam Essof Kolia from Singapore and Shaikh Abdullah Mohammad Al-Romaizan from Saudi Arabia.

With an initial paid up capital of Rs 3 billion (US $50 million), the bank has a vision of establishing a network of state-of-the-art branches all over the county which will provide financial solutions to all segments of an increasingly Shariah conscious business and consumer society, it was stated by Rafique Dawood, Chairman FDIBL while speaking to media personnel present on the occasion.-PR