Emirates Islamic Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bahrain based Albaraka Banking Group, towards strengthening their relationship and providing more integrated Islamic financial services.
The partnership is in mutual interest for both banking majors who are spearheading Islamic banking services in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain respectively.
Emirates Islamic Bank CEO Mr. Ebrahim Fayez Al Shamsi said, “We are happy to announce our new working relationship with Albaraka Banking Group. This new agreement will allow us to increase the awareness of the Islamic world’s financial products and develop new ways to market them.”
Speaking on the joint venture, Albaraka Banking Group CEO Mr. Adnan Ahmed Yousif said, “Both parties will operate on various areas of banking that will be mutually beneficial by providing customers better and more integrated Islamic financial services.”
Emirates Islamic Bank and Albaraka Banking Group are to work with each other on an open strategy basis in different areas of banking that will include exchanging deposits in different currencies, organising the investment of surplus liquidity, clearing funds, underwriting, drafts, payments against letter of credit and offering guarantees in addition to providing support for the investors in the securities market.
Emirates Islamic Bank has already etched a commanding presence by providing high quality Islamic banking services across the UAE. All the bank’s activities are overseen by a Shari'a board comprising several prestigious scholars of Islamic law.
The Bahrain based Albaraka Banking Group offers retail, corporate, investment banking and treasury services. The Group recently became the first organisation from Bahrain and the first Islamic banking group in the GCC region to announce the listing of its shares on the Dubai International Financial Exchange.
