President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf attends opening ceremony of DIB Pakistan Limited
Bank plans to open eight branches in five major cities during the first half of 2006
Karachi, March 29, 2005: Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) launched its operations in Pakistan, with opening of its first branch in the commercial city of Karachi on March 28 by Dr. Mohamed Khalfan bin Khirbash, UAE Minister of State for Finance and Industry and Chairman of DIB and Mr. Saad Abdul Razak, CEO of DIB and other senior officials of the bank.
This is the bank's first of eight branches that is being planed for opening by DIB Pakistan Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of DIB. Other branches are being planned in the bustling cities of Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad, besides Karachi.
The launch of the bank was celebrated at gala dinner ceremony hosted at the Mohatta Palace, Karachi and attended by the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf as the Chief Guest besides Ministers, Dr. Shamshad Akhter, Governor of State Bank of Pakistan, senior government officials, and top businessmen. President Musharraf was the first person to open an account in the Karachi branch of DIB.
President General Pervez Musharraf stated: "The brotherly ties between Pakistan and United Arab Emirates were cemented through trade and I hope that this would be further grown with strong business links in the coming days bringing the two countries closer."
Dr. Khirbash said: "Pakistan is an important part of the bank's international expansion programme and we will be operating a fully-fledged Islamic banking operation in Pakistan with presence in all of the major cities of the country."
Dr. Khirbash noted: "This launch is not the first step taken by DIB in being part of Pakistan's growing economy. It was only recently that DIB played an active role in developing the market of Islamic Commercial Paper in Pakistan when the bank participated as a co-manager of the Sovereign Islamic Sukuk issue."
He further added, "Our research of the Pakistan market many years ago had led us to believe in the high growth potential and investment friendly government policies of the Government of Pakistan. We thus focused on the Pakistan market as a key ingredient in our international expansion plan to realize DIB's vision of being the leading provider of innovative financial services in accordance with Sharia principles. There has also been a growing awareness of the benefits of Islamic banking in Pakistan, which has been supported by the Government and the Central Bank of Pakistan."
"Being the first Islamic bank in the world is both a great honour and a great responsibility for DIB. Our pioneering move 30 years ago has resulted in a thriving and growing Islamic finance industry. Today, we are recognised as being the leading and the most forward-thinking Islamic institution across the world and other banks and institutions consider us as the benchmark, both in the structuring of products and on Sharia principles and jurisprudence," Dr. Khirbash concluded.
Mr. Saad Zaman, CEO, DIB Pakistan Limited said: "DIB will leverage the expertise and experience of its Sharia board to play a significant role in the development of sophisticated Islamic banking products and Sharia compliant services in Pakistan.
"Pakistan is one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a huge inflow of foreign investment and an exponential boom in the finance and banking sectors. This has been made possible through the stable and business-friendly policies of the government that have led to the emergence of Pakistan as an economically progressive nation on the world map," Mr. Zaman concluded.
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DIB profileDubai Islamic Bank (DIB), established in 1975, is the first Islamic bank to have incorporated the principles of Islam in all its practices.
DIB is a public joint stock company and its share is quoted on the Dubai Financial Market. The bank enjoys a reputation as a leader and innovator in maintaining the quality, flexibility and accessibility of its products and services. In a very short space of time it has created market leading services and products that are setting benchmarks for the rest of the sector.
The bank's recent financial results confirm the strength of its balance sheet and profitability. The bank reported net profit for the year ending 31st December 2005 of AED1.061 billion rising by 130 per cent compared to AED461 million in 2004. The profit for the bank, including depositors' profits, reported a 97 per cent increase for the year ending December 2005 at AED2 billion compared to AED1.017 million for 2004.
Financing and investment operations also delivered strong growth, with total financing now standing at AED25.6 billion rising by 46 per cent compared to 2004. Total assets reported a 40 per cent increase to AED43 billion. Customer deposits too showed an aggressive growth, reaching AED33.34 billion in the year, a growth of 34 per cent over 2005.
The bank has been proactive in creating partnerships and alliances at local and international level. DIB has adapted an aggressive expansion strategy, which started with the establishment of DIB Pakistan Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of DIB. The bank has also co-managed Pakistan's US$600 million first Sovereign Islamic bond issue that received a tremendous response from investors.
DIB opened its first representative office in Turkey to improve its access to that market. DIB has also acquired 60 per cent of its stake in Al Khartoum Bank and is also among the parents banks of Emirates and Sudan Bank (ESB). The steps taken mark DIB's ambitious plans to roll out its operations into regional and international markets as part of its overall strategic plan.
DIB has also shown its outstanding capabilities by being appointed to provide specialist financial solutions for huge developmental projects including the Dubai Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation (PCFC) world's largest Sukuk, Dubai's Department of Civil Aviation US$1 billion Islamic bond issue. The issue was arranged to raise funding for the second phase of the expansion of Dubai International Airport. The bank also managed financing of US$350 million for Nakheel. The financing made further capital available to build on Nakheel's blue chip portfolio of developments such as The Palm in Dubai.
For further information, please contact:
TimHarrison/Tarek Fleihan
ASDA'A Public Relations
Dubai,
UAE
Tel: +971-4-3344550
Fax: +971-4-3344556
E-mail: info@asdaa.com
© Press Release 2006
