MANAMA: Dar Al-Maal Al-Islami Trust (DMI) has emerged a truly global institution since its establishment three decades ago, a top official at the bank said.
Chairman of the DMI board of supervisors Prince Mohamed Al-Faisal, who congratulated DMI shareholders on the group's global dominance and paid, glowing tribute to the people who made it possible, said that he was pleased to see the DMI vision being translated into a tangible, irrefutable reality.
"Since its inception almost 30 years ago, DMI Trust has played a pioneering role in the creation and subsequent development of the contemporary Islamic banking and financial services industry," said Prince Mohamed. "Today, DMI Trust boasts an unparalleled network stretching all over the world with well integrated regional subsidiaries, affiliates and associates. These collectively form a unique and strategically significant financial bridge between the world's leading financial centers and Islamic countries," he said.
"In line with our commitment to continuing our pioneering role and to staying well ahead of the curve in terms of international best practice applications, we refined the corporate structure of some of our operations last year," said Prince Mohamed.
"These efforts, which are part of our ongoing and now long-standing commitment to developing the global Islamic banking and financial services industry, took into consideration recent international changes, specifically with regards to the need for better corporate governance," he said.
DMI Trust began its operations with a focus on three main businesses in Islamic banking, Islamic investment and Islamic insurance. The group's Islamic banking interests cover the entire spectrum of Islamic banking with commercial and retail banking operations in Bahrain, Pakistan and Egypt as well as private banking and wealth management in Switzerland.
There are also associated Islamic insurance companies based in Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia providing services to the Islamic communities in the Middle East and Europe.
"Our global prominence, which is entirely unprecedented within the history of the Islamic banking and financial services industry, is a direct result of the contributions of many different people around the world," said Prince Mohamed. "On behalf of the board of supervisors of DMI Trust, I take this opportunity to thank our shareholders, investors and customers for their continued support, as well as the countries, governments and appointed regulators in which we operate," he said.
"In particular, I must thank our management teams across the group, led by the group Chief Executive Officer Khalid Abdulla-Janahi," said Prince Mohamed.
"These management teams, under Khalid's leadership, have played a pivotal role in engineering our global prominence and, in many ways, they have been the chief architects building DMI Trust into the global powerhouse it is today," he said.
Janahi, who was the DMI Trust group chief operating officer from 1998 until he was appointed group chief executive in 1999, thanked Prince Mohamed for the board's ongoing support and pledged to continue to confront, head-on, any obstacles that may hinder the group's continuing global expansion.
"The global financial services industry has no place for the weak, the timid or the submissive," said Janahi. "We cannot afford to be docile -- no more than we can afford to rest on our laurels," he said.
"These are challenging, taxing times for the global banking and financial services industry -- and some of our group subsidiaries and associates have, naturally, suffered," said Janahi.
"These challenges, however, have only reinforced our already solid resolve to push ahead -- despite adversities -- and to continuously develop the global Islamic banking and financial services industry," he said.
By MAHMOOD RAFIQUE
© Arab News 2010
