Alkhaliji opens Islamic bank branch; plans more products: Gulf Times

Alkhaliji yesterday launched its Islamic banking branch to cater to the wholesale business, including small and medium enterprises.
The move comes as part of efforts to cash in on the growing appetite for Islamic banking, which has 20% share in Qatar’s total banking assets and loans, and about 17% in deposits in third quarter of 2008.
The new branch ‘Alkhaliji al Islami’ at Al Jazi Tower in West Bay, offers a range of products and services of Islamic current account, foreign currency exchange, domestic and international funds transfers in eight foreign currencies and commodity Murabaha.
“Islamic banking and finance is no longer a niche market in the international arena. It has reached the status of mainstream banking as more and more countries across the continents have established players in their own markets,” Alkhaliji chairman Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal bin Thani al-Thani said.

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Islamic banking attracts rising number of non-Muslims: Expert: Peninsula

Source ::: THE PENINSULA / BY MOBIN PANDIT

DOHA: An increasing number of non-Muslim expatriates here are getting attracted to Islamic banking, says a senior Doha-based banker.

R Seetharaman (pictured), CEO of Doha Bank, told world leaders of Islamic banking at a key convention here yesterday that Islamic banking windows of commercial banks in Doha had grown at an impressive 18 percent annually over the past three years.

Qatar, unlike some other countries in the region, allowed hybrid banking and a significant development had been that a lot of non-Muslim customers were ‘deflecting’ from commercial to Islamic banking, he said.

“I can clearly see that more and more expatriates are trying to open accounts in Doha Islamic (the Islamic banking arm of Doha Bank).”

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