IslamicFinance.de

Top organizations representing Sri Lanka's lawyers and accountants have brought together experts in Islamic finance to broaden understanding of one of the faster growing niches in the financial sector.
The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Sri Lanka Division and the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) said they are hosting program on Islamic Finance and Banking on March 28.
Islamic finance is compliant with Shariah or Islamic law which prohibits charging of interest, speculating with derivatives or options or investing in firms that produce pork or pornography.

Amana Investments Ltd. has been the torchbearer of Islamic banking in Sri Lanka for almost the last two decades. In that time the parent company also established a Takaful (Islamic insurance) subsidiary, Amana Takaful, in a joint venture with Syarikat Takaful Malaysia and Amana Capital. At the helm at Amana are Chairman Osman Kassim and Managing Director and CEO Faizal Salieh, arguably the two most seasoned Islamic bankers in the country.
Last month, President and Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka granted a full commercial banking license to Amana Investments Ltd. to set up Amana Bank, which is scheduled to start full operations later this year. The bank is headquartered in Colombo and has 13 branches in the west and east of the country as well as one in the south, in Galle, that are being converted into fully fledged branches of Amana Bank.

Qatar Charity is spearheading a campaign to collect funds to be donated to relief initiatives benefiting flood victims from Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The “Fight the Floods” campaign was launched offering the people in Qatar the opportunity to directly deposit to the authorised Qatar Charity "Fight the Floods" bank account: A/C Number: 100024470 at Qatar Islamic Bank.

Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) seeks persons with financial or legal background with insurance experience to be appointed as an administrator to Ceylinco Takaful Ltd.
Ceylinco Takaful Ltd. was formerly suspended the registration by IBSL for general insurance for three weeks, in 5 August 2009 prohibiting it from issuing new insurance policies in respect of General Insurance Business and back in 26th August 2009.
IBSL annual report for 2009 further underlined that Ceylinco Takaful Limited, whose registration is under suspension.

The profit rates on Al Salamah’s 3-month and 6-month Mudarabah Fixed Deposits stood at 11.46% and 11.79% respectively, whilst the 12-month Mudarabah Fixed Deposit profit rate stood at an unprecedented 12.07%.
The reasons for Al Salamah’s strength are the following:
Al Salamah is backed by LB Finance’s 40 years of expertise, giving it a major advantage in the market. Furthermore, Al Salamah is not only monitored by a highly experienced and learned Shari’a Supervisory Council, it is also sanctioned by the Monetory Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Anjana Samarasinghe reported that First Barakah Investments Limited is expecting Central Bank approval to operate as a registered finance company shortly in Sri Lanka shortly. The company also expects to apply for banking licenses within two years time.

Barakah Investments will introduce ‘SUKUK’ an alternative way of bonds in Islamic finance to the market. The Government of Sri Lanka also expects to raise funds through SUKUK.

The Amana Group was recently given a Letter of Provisional Approval by the Central Bank (CB) to establish a licensed commercial bank named Amana Bank Ltd., among the conditions is to raise a minimum capital requirement of Rs 2.5 bn.