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Noor Islamic Bank (Noor) announced a waiver on all remittance charges for clients wishing to send money to relatives in the Philippines, in the wake of the Super Typhoon Haiyan. In addition, the Islamic bank has said that any of its corporate clients wishing to donate funds to the Philippines relief effort will have the processing charges waived. The decision to waive remittance and processing charges will remain in place until December 31, 2013. Individuals and organisations must have a Noor bank account to take advantage of the zero charges.

In September last year, Noor issued an invitation to the world to help shape the future of banking, with the launch of its Bank of the Future initiative, aimed at creating innovative ways of banking. As part of the initiative, Noor created an online Shape Your Bank competition to solicit people’s expectations of banks in the future, with prize money of $20,000 for the best idea on enhancing the banking experience. Nurul Iksan from Malang, Indonesia, won the first prize in Noor’s online competition. With the $20,000 in cash, plus an iPad he can begin pursuing some of his business ideas. He will use part of the money to open a fashion shop in nearby Bali. Iksan’s suggestion was to introduce a family account that is held by the head of the family with supplementary cards and limited budgets assigned to all family members. Such a concept has not been implemented in the region yet.

Standardisation of the regulations governing Islamic finance is a must to ensure the globalisation of Islamic finance, according to Hussain AlQemzi, GCEO of Noor Investment Group and CEO of Noor Islamic Bank. Although regional standardisation bodies exist, adherence to their standards varies from country to country and region to region. AlQemzi called for practical measures to be implemented that progressively address impediments to the growth of Islamic finance. He further said that an enabling environment for cross border connectivity through Islamic finance needs to be created. This will require measures to develop domestic capital markets and national market reforms. Domestic markets should also be strengthened by widening the issuer and investor bases, with more issuances in currencies other than the domestic currency, to attract investors from across the globe. And there should be greater collaboration and cooperation among, and between, national economies in which Islamic finance participates, AlQemzi added.

Noor Islamic Bank has completed Islamic capital market mandates valued at over $1.4 billion (AED5.14 billion) in the past six months in Turkey. As an Initial Mandated Lead Arranger and Joint Bookrunner, Noor successfully closed a $500 million equivalent dual-currency Murabaha facility for Türkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi, which was oversubscribed two times. Noor Islamic Bank has also been an Initial Mandated Lead Arranger and Joint Bookrunner for a $382 million dual currency Murabaha Facility for Asya Katilim Bankasi A.S (Bank Asya) and a $500 million Sukuk for Tukiye Finans Katilim Bankasi A.S. In total, 85 banks and financial institutions across Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe have participated in the syndicated financing deals led by Noor this year.

Job Description

Deliver assigned financial objectives (Revenue, Assets (funded and non funded) and Deposits targets)
Develop sustainable and economically feasible relationships with customers
Enhance share of wallet for the existing relationships
To solicit & develop Corporate banking relationship customer base.
Deepening customer Relationship by providing financial solutions & banking services required to meet individual customer’s business needs.
Ensuring prudent & profitable customer portfolio for the bank.
Understanding of customer’s business & industry trends, that would help identify adversities and its implication to the bank.

Identify potential customers through databases, cold calling, follow up leads and telephone/personal contacts etc.
To sell Personal finance products to the specified target customers/segments and meet monthly sales targets.
To contact potential customers and convince them about the bank’s product offerings.
Major accountability for a Relationship Officer is to ensure that business is solicited as per the Shariah guidelines/process.
Ensuring that the conclusions on all the business sourced on Telesales leads, should be reported to ARM/RM.

Noor Islamic Bank (Noor) is targeting Dhs5bn of lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) over the next five years with the launch of Noor Trade. This Shari'a compliant banking service is specifically tailored for SMEs that contribute significantly to the UAE's trade flows. In support of its Noor Trade strategy, Noor has opened its first dedicated trade branch in Almas Tower, home of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), in Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT). A second similar branch is scheduled to open in Deira, in July. Under the Noor Trade brand, clients will have access to fully Shari'a compliant financial services, including cash management, trade, and working capital solutions, along with consumer, treasury and takaful products packaged at preferential rates based on eligibility criteria.

Our Base platform to work will be IFLEX / Flexcube)
To identify and resolve application issues related to Core Banking systems of Noor Investment Group
To provide consultancy to users on queries related to Core Banking systems.
To Liaise with vendors and partners in resolving issues related to Core Banking Systems.
To ensure smooth service availability of Core banking systems.
To assist in new implementations, enhancements and upgrades of Core Banking Systems.
To perform System Integration tests (SIT) and co-ordinate User Acceptance Test (UAT) activities related to Core Banking Systems.

Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) has announced the inaugural Commodity Murabaha transaction on its DMCC Tradeflow platform. The transaction took place between Noor Islamic Bank and Commercial Bank of Dubai, marking the official launch of the DMCC Tradeflow Islamic product portfolio. According to Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman, DMCC, the DMCC Tradeflow pioneered the use of an electronic central registry of commodity ownership in Dubai. The commodities available on DMCC Tradeflow include oil products, foodstuffs and base metals and if required these goods can be inspected easily by Shari’ah scholars.

Maintain good relationship with all the constituent in the market to ensure that quality business is referred to the bank on a regular basis.
• Pro-actively call on showrooms and customers and promptly respond to their calls in order to negotiate and finalize business deals within the targeted turnaround time and shariah guidelines.
• Analyze documents submitted by the customer and prepare credit proposals for submission to appropriate approval authority.
• Ensure portfolio quality by exercising sound credit judgement and complying with credit, shariah and product parameters.
• Obtain and provide market, customer and competitor's information and feedback.
• Address customer complaint within 24 hrs.

Noor Islamic Bank (Noor) announced the appointment of Narendra Swarup as Chief Risk Officer (CRO). In his role, Swarup is responsible for all the risk functions of the bank. He has more than 25 years of international experience in risk management in sovereign funds and international banks. In addition to his expertise in wholesale and investment banking, retail and private banking and asset management, he is regarded as an industry expert in overseeing credit and operational risk, as well as compliance and governance.

Noor Islamic Bank has announced the appointment of Narendra Swarup as Chief Risk Officer (CRO). Swarup will be responsible for all the risk functions of the bank. These include credit, market, operations as well as compliance and governing information security, protecting against fraud and guarding intellectual property through developing internal controls. Swarup brings with him more than 25 years of international experience in risk management in sovereign funds and international banks.

The Central Bank has postponed the implementation of three most important reforms regarding the security of chip and pin debit cards. According to the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Emirates NBD, the emirate's banks are not yet ready to implement the new security standards to protect clients against card fraud.

According to an announcement by Noor Islamic Bank, the bank will launch its new product Business Instalment Finance. This new package will serve to cater to the financial requirements of small businesses. Small businesses which already have a business relationship with Noor Islamic Bank will have access to loans at competitive profit rates. Part of the new package is fixed-term financing of up to AED 750,000 for 48 months. Documentation and the processing time will be held at minimum.

According to Hussain Al Qemzi, CEO of Noor Islamic Bank, three to five years will be necessary in order to to comply with new central bank regulations. The regulations state requirements for lenders to limit their exposure to state entities in the Gulf state. The new rules restrict banks from lending more than 100% of their capital to government institutions or more than 25% of their capital to any state-related entities. Hussain Al Qemzi described the given timeframe as "challenging".

According to a senior banker, UAE banks face difficulties in implementing the central bank’s new regulations on curtailing lending to government firms. Noor Islamic Bank's CEO - Hussain Al Qemzi - explains that the objective of the central bank is not clear enough. He further adds that it is not the optimal timing for exercising control and putting in place regulations so that banks do not have enough time to change the situation. They are unable to sell the huge amount the possess of these assets in such a short time in the market available.

Looking for expansion opportunities, Noor Islamic Bank focuses on South East Asia as a strong growth market. While the development of global lending markets remains uncertain, Asian countries have growing needs in the areas of infrastructure and development combined with solid economic growth. The goal of Noor Islamic Bank is to cooperate with already establishedd financial institutions in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. This way the gap in funding, which was caused by the shrinkage of the global liquidity pool, shall be bridged.

Albaraka Türk has authorized a number of leading banks to arrange a a $250 million dual-currency syndicated finance facility. This facility shall be used for the expansion of Albaraka Türk's financing activities in Turkey. The tenor of the facility is one year and its profit rate is of 200 bppa over the Libor/Euribor. Among the participating banks are ABC Islamic Bank, Al Hilal Bank, Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam Berhad, Emirates NBD Capital, Noor Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

Standard Chartered Bank and Noor Islamic Bank operated jointly as Initial Mandate Lead Arrangers and Structuring Banks for a five years USD 175Mn Senior Secured Club Facility for Stanford Marine Group. The proceeds of the term loan have partly been utilized to refinance existing debt. Standard Chartered Bank was Facility Agent, Investment Agent, and Hedging Bank. The facility offers growth capital to acquire second hand and/or build offshore supply vessels.
The deal conatins dual currency tranches (AED and USD) and Conventional and Islamic Murabaha tranches.

It seems that Dubai’s Noor Islamic Bank is the only institution in the United Arab Emirates that has been targeted by the US for dealings with Iran. Moreover, it appears that the bank had been a primary conduit for returning foreign-currency oil receipts to Iran, until it agreed in December to end dealings with Iranian entities that have been sanctioned by the US and the European Union, including Iran’s banks Saderat and Melli.
Meanwhile, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the emirate’s largest bank by assets, noted it is reducing banking activities with Iran because of mounting international sanctions against the country.