Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6
By Elena Kosolapova – Trend:
Zaman-Bank is expected to enter Kazakhstan’s Islamic banking services market in near future, Nurlan Abdrakhmanov, director of the financial market methodology department of Kazakh National Bank told in an interview with RIA Novosti.
“This bank will start providing banking services in accordance with the principles of Islamic finance after the completion of conversion procedure [from ordinary bank to an Islamic bank],” Abdrakhmanov said.
He noted that among all the products of Islamic banking, murabaha (trade financing in accordance with the principles of Islamic finance) is in the greatest demand, adding that the share of murabaha in the assets of the Al Hilal Islamic bank in Kazakhstan hit 38.13 percent as of early 2016.
According to Abdrakhmanov, Kazakhstan’s Islamic banking services market are represented by Islamic bank Al Hilal, which assets hit 0.08 percent of total assets of the country’s banking sector as of January 1, 2017; Islamic leasing company Kazakhstan Ijara Company; and Islamic trade and financial organization NewFinance.
Moreover BRK-Leasing which is a part of Baiterek Holding contributes to the development of Islamic leasing. In 2016 the company for the first time financed a project under the conditions of Islamic leasing Ijara in the amount over 1.1 billion tenges ($3.5 million).
However, there is no organization offering Islamic insurance services in Kazakhstan.
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