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29 March 2024

Dubai Islamic Bank sets up Shariah consultancy unit

From right to left, Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dubai Islamic Bank; Dr Hussain Hamed Hassan, Director of Dar Al Sharia Legal & Financial Consultancy; Khaled Al Kamda, Group Managing Director and CEO of DIB and Sohail Zubairi, CEO of Dar Al Sharia.

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By Mohamad Al Kady and Agencies

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has launched a new subsidiary, Dar Al Sharia Legal and Financial Consultancy, which will serve as a one-stop solution centre for Shariah-compliant legal and financial consultancy services for Islamic financing and investment transactions on the global level.

Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the DIB announced yesterday the launch of the new firm, stressing that it would deploy the long expertise of the bank in serving Shariah-compliant financial institutions.

Dar Al Sharia, which literally means the house of Sharia, has evolved from the DIB's Shariah Co-ordination Department, which has more than four years of expertise in innovative structuring and implementation of a diverse range of Islamic finance transactions, including many sukuk issues.

Hussain Hamed Hassan, Chairman of Dar Al Sharia, said the company will be offering Shariah-compliant advisory services regarding Shariah training, accounting, auditing, documentation and rating activities.

"Dar Al Sharia will liaise with clients, lawyers, bankers and investors on an end-to-end basis, from the initial concept through to the completion of transaction structure and documentation, in a fully Shariah-compliant manner.

"DIB has long been at the forefront of the growth experienced by the Islamic finance industry. We have completed more than 1,400 transactions which include first-time Islamic structures, such as convertible sukuk, multi-class sukuk, Islamic securitisation, IPOs, Islamic trust services, and many others with aggregate value of which exceeds Dh400 billion since 2004," Hassan added.

Sohail Zubairi, CEO of the new company, said that they already have 11 clients – including Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and First Gulf Bank – and expected to add more than 12 new clients during the next six months. The new consultancy unit will expand to Pakistan and the United Kingdom to tap the growing demand for Islamic finance services.

Khalid Al Kamda, Group Managing Director and CEO of Dubai Islamic Bank, said the company was aiming to become a worldwide powerhouse for Shariah guidance.

DIB shares have been beaten down in recent weeks. The stock yesterday opened the week on a positive note, gaining 11 fils, or 1.41 per cent, to end the day higher at Dh7.91. The bank is yet to release its quarterly earnings.

 

DIB to arrange sale of three Islamic bonds

Dubai Islamic Bank said yesterday it expects to arrange the sale of three Islamic bonds worth between $500 million (Dh1.83bn) and $800m each for companies based in the UAE in the coming month.

The Islamic bonds, or sukuk, will be denominated in US dollars and UAE dirhams, said Sohail Zubairi, Dubai Islamic Bank's Senior Vice-President and Head of Shariah Co-ordination. He added he expected the sukuk market to pick up pace this year.

"At this stage, we are working on three large sukuk already... from between $500mn to $750m-$800m," Zubairi said, without giving more details.

"I think the market is picking up in the second half of 2008 and it will take off immediately after [the holy month of] Ramadan," Zubairi said.

Dubai Islamic Bank, the Gulf region's fourth-biggest Islamic lender by market value, has completed over Dh400bn worth of Islamic deals since 2002.

DIB has issued sukuk and syndications worth Dh20bn during the first half of 2008 and the bank topped the list of GCC banks in sukuk issuance during the last six months.