The Tanzanian Islamic banking scene is heating up as the year closes with the People's Bank of Zanzibar, a state-owned commercial bank, launching an Islamic banking window just days after the mainland witnessed the launch of the country's first fully Islamic bank, Amana Bank.
Zanzibar is an island in the Indian Ocean under the administration of the unitary government of Tanzania. The island's population is 99% Muslim offering a thriving base for the Islamic banking model.
"PBZ will cater for all class of customers who want to follow Islamic rules. It will offer personal and corporate banking products," the bank's MD, Juma Amour told The Islamic Globe.
The People's Bank of Zanzibar is 100% owned by the government of Zanzibar and has five branches across the island with plans to expand to the mainland next year. In its most recent financial results the PBZ reported it made an after tax profit of $3.3m in 2009 with total assets of $79m in the same year.
Tanzania is emerging as one of the fastest growing frontiers of Islamic finance together with its East Africa Community neighbor Kenya, which hosts two fully Shari'ah compliant banks and a Takaful company.
Other Tanzanian banks that have launched Islamic finance windows include National Bank of Commerce, Stanbic Bank Tanzania and KCB Tanzania.
© The Islamic Globe 2011
