IslamicFinance.de

Adam Capital Micro Credit Ltd, a Sharia compliant company and wholly owned subsidiary of Adam Capital PLC, entered in to an agreement with Islamic Insurance provider Amana Takaful Life Limited to promote their products, playing a facilitator role on a fee sharing basis. Adam Capital Micro Credit business has grown steadily since commencing operations in July 2015, and expects to generate steady additional fee based income by this arrangement. The plan is to serve the underserved community within a radius of 15km from the office located at Grandpass Road, Colombo 14, assisting them to up lift their living standards.

THE government has been advised to look into the possibility of enacting a law to regulate establishment and operations of Takaful in the country. The Commissioner of Insurance, Mr Israel Kamuzora, said this in Dar es Salaam recently when briefing the Minister of State in the President’s Office (Special Duties) on the activities of the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA). He said the proposed law would provide guidelines in establishment and operations of insurers providing services that are in compliance with Shariah - Takaful. In Tanzania only few banks including the National Bank of Commerce (NBC), Amana Bank, People’s Bank of Zanzibar (PBZ) and KBC Bank offer Shariah compliant services. The Minister for Finance, Ms Saada Mkuya Salum, last month encouraged more local banks to provide Shariah compliant banking services to attract more Muslim customers.

The Islamic Finance market has an estimated market of around Rs 300 billion and with the operation of currently five commercial licensed banks, three finance companies and other institutions, Sri Lanka’s total deposit base is nearly Rs 35 billion and the total loan base is Rs 24.8 billion. In Sri Lanka the Banking Act No 30 of 1988 was amended in March 2005 to accommodate the concepts of Islamic banking. Major banks such as HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank ABN Amro have dedicated Islamic Banking subsidiaries or Islamic Banking windows. Islamic finance is considered a key opportunity to bring in funds via different agencies, countries and foreign currencies. Introducing new Shariah-compliant instruments and products is important for expanding the Islamic finance industry in the country.

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.