SBP issues 4th Islamic bank licence

By Arshad Hussain

KARACHI: The central bank issued the fourth full-fledged Islamic bank licence to Emirates Global Islamic Bank on Thursday, said Syed Waseemuddin, a senior official at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Ishrat Husain, governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), handed over the licence to Raja Jaffer, chief executive of the bank. Emirates Global Limited of the United Arab Emirates is the owner of this bank, who would launch its operation in the country soon, the official said.

The State Bank had already issued three full-fledged Islamic bank’s licences to Meezan Bank, Bank Al-Baraka and Bank Islamic Pakistan.

Out of three banks, Meezan Bank and Bank Al-Baraka have already started Islamic banking in the country and have 27 and nine branches, respectively, in different cities of the country.

Different commercial banks have also obtained licences for having branches of Islamic banking. These commercial banks are operating 30 branches.

Bank Alfalah has 15 branches, Habib Bank AG Zurich has one branch, Bank of Khyber has three, MCB Commercial bank has five, Standard Chartered Bank has two, Bank Al-Habib one, Habib Bank Limited (HBL) one, Metropolitan bank one branch, and Soneri Bank has one branch.

In the last two years and a half, the total deposits of the Islamic banking stood at Rs 40 billion, while its assets are at Rs 60 billion.

The growth in the banking is slow because we are preferring the quality of the Islamic banking instead of quantity,” said Pervaiz Saeed, head of the Islamic Banking Division of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

“There is a growth of 100 percent in the Islamic Banking in the last two-and-a-half years,” Mr Saeed said.

“It will take time to grow and the central bank is looking for a growth of 10 percent in its share of deposits over the next five years.”

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