Zawya
Al Baraka is in talks with Moroccan lenders for the new bank.
Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group plans to set up an Islamic bank in Morocco next year with a capital of USD 50 million, CEO Adnan Ahmed Yousif said.
Last month, Morocco’s parliament gave final approval to an Islamic finance bill that allows foreign banks and local lenders to set up Islamic banks in the North African country.
“Al Baraka Group is in the process of completing legal procedures to set up the new bank and we are in discussions with a group of Moroccan banks who had previously expressed interest in partnering with Al Baraka,” Yousif told Zawya.
He declined to name the potential partners, but said the new bank would be established in 2015 with a plan to open 10 branches in the first year of operations.
Al Baraka operates across 15 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Yousif said the Group’s net income rose 5% in the first nine months of 2014 to reach USD 207 million compared with the same period last year, largely due to solid results by units in Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Tunisia.
He said Al Baraka expected to record growth of 12% in assets, of 11% in deposits and of 10% in income during 2015.
LEGISLATION NEEDED
Yousif said that countries that have yet to put in place regulations for Islamic banking, like Egypt, would find it difficult to keep pace with the growth in the Islamic finance industry.
“Egypt is paving the way for growth in Islamic banking and the sukuk industry, and the lack of legislation to regulate the industry presents a big obstacle to growth.”
He said the development of a legislative, technical and supervisory framework for Islamic finance in Bahrain and other Gulf states had supported growth of the industry in the region.
Islamic banking assets in Gulf Arab states reached USD 525 billion at the end of 2013, up from USD 452 billion the previous year, according to Yousif. He said Saudi Arabia accounted for USD 260 billion, followed by the United Arab Emirates with USD 90 billion and Qatar with USD 60 billion.
