MANAMA: Bahrain based Islamic banking major, Al Baraka Banking Group B.S.C (ABG), said that it had obtained the approval of the Bank Al Maghrib (the central bank of Morocco) to establish a new bank in Morocco.
Thus, the Group completed its presence in all the countries of the Maghreb, where it now owns banking subsidiaries in in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco, as well as the African continent in Egypt, Sudan and South Africa. The Group has already obtained the approval of the Central Bank of Bahrain to establish this bank.
The new bank will carry the name of Al Baraka Bank Morocco, in partnership with the Moroccan Bank for Foreign Commerce of Africa (BMCE Bank), which is one of the oldest and largest private Moroccan banks, which was founded in 1959 and located in 22 countries. The new bank will be under the management of Al Baraka Banking Group and will operate within its network of subsidiary banking units, which are currently located in 15 countries and in turn own more than 700 branches.
“We are very pleased to complete the regulatory approvals to establish Al Baraka Bank Morocco after obtaining the license from the central bank of Morocco. By this we accomplished an important strategic step in the implementation of our future program to cover all major countries in the Maghreb by our presence and banking services, and at the same time to expand in the African continent. We intend to take further initiatives in the future towards achieving this goal,” HE Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, Chairman of Al Baraka Banking Group said.
Adnan Ahmed Yousif, Member of the Board and President and Chief Executive of Al Baraka Banking Group said that entering the Moroccan market is a very important achievement, which is considered one of the major markets in the Maghreb and Africa, and will achieve greater diversity in building assets portfolios and revenue sources for the Group, especially that we intend to employ our deep-rooted and unique Islamic banking expertise, the extensive banking network of our units and our strong technical, human and financial resources to the success of our presence there. In addition, our banking partnership with one of the oldest and largest Moroccan banks is a high added value for the new bank.
Al Baraka Banking Group (B.S.C) is licensed as an Islamic wholesale bank by the Central Bank of Bahrain, listed on Bahrain Bourse and Nasdaq Dubai stock exchanges. It is a leading international Islamic banking group providing its unique services in countries with a population totaling around one billion. It is jointly rated BBB+ (long term) / A3 (short term) on the international scale and A+ (bh) (long term) / A2 (bh) (short term) on the national by Islamic International Rating Agency & Dagong Global Credit Rating Company Limited, and by Standard & Poor’s at BB+ (long term) / B (short term).
Al Baraka offers retail, corporate, treasury and investment banking services, strictly in accordance with the principles of the Islamic Shari’a. The authorized capital of Al Baraka is US$ 1.5 billion, while total equity is at about US$ 2.2 billion. The Group has a wide geographical presence in the form of subsidiary banking units and representative offices in fifteen countries, which in turn provide their services through over 700 branches. Al Baraka currently has a strong presence in Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Bahrain, Pakistan, South Africa, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, including two representative offices in Indonesia and Libya.
