RIYADH - Riyadh Governor Prince Salman will inaugurate on Sunday the headquarters of Bank Albilad, the first Saudi bank to be licensed by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) along with five other foreign banks following the opening up of the banking sector.
However, the inaugural ceremony will be held at the Malaz park close to the bank's head office on Sitteen Street, Ayman Al-Sadoun, marketing manager of Bank Albilad, told Arab News.
Capitalized at SR3 billion, the bank has 50 percent of its shares drawn from the shareholders, with the rest floated to the public. It was formed by the merger of several remittance exchange houses in the Kingdom following the proclamation of the royal decree 48/M on Nov. 4 last year authorizing the bank to engage in banking and investment business in the country.
According to Al-Sadoun, one of the distinctive features of the bank is its Islamic banking activity, which is supervised by a Shariah committee consisting of Islamic scholars. He said: "It is worth noting that Bank Albilad will offer Islamic-based products and services that are Shariah-compliant and approved by the bank's Shariah committee. The bank has been established under Shariah principles to market and offer a new range of banking and financial services that are both competitive and diversified."
Pointing out that the bank will stay close to the people and their traditions, he said this objective is symbolized by its carefully chosen logo in which the color scheme represents the Kingdom's desert landscape reflecting their corporate philosophy to derive its strength and resources from this land and transfer the benefit back to this land.
By Javid Hassan
© Arab News 2005
