IslamicFinance.de

Tunisia's El Wifack Leasing plans to become the country's third full-fledged Islamic bank by August and will receive a capital injection from the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD). The ICD will not only provide technical assistance, but also inject up to 30 percent of the bank's capital, helping it increase its authorized capital to at least 150 million dinars ($77 million), El Wifack's general manager Mohammed Mellousse said. It will start offering sharia-compliant deposits through eight branches and build a network of 60 branches within five years, aiming for a 1.5 percent share of Tunisia's total banking market, he added. Currently, there are two full-fledged Islamic banks in Tunisia, Zitouna Bank and the Tunisian arm of Bahrain's Al Baraka Banking Group.