IslamicFinance.de

Although FCB Capital, Kenya's first Shari'ah compliant Islamic investment bank, has carried out a modest amount of business in its first year of operations, it has prooved that East Africa has an appetite for Islamic finance.
The bank's results for the first six months show that it has only just begun receiving income in the last six months, mostly in administration and advisory fees. Their total income was $144,400.

The perceived sustainability and attractiveness of Islamic finance as an alternative financial management model in a post global financial crisis continues to flourish in new regions and countries trying to change banking regulations and laws to facilitate the introduction of such institutions and products in their respective jurisdictions.
The latest region which is trying to open up to Islamic finance is East Africa, including Ethiopia, where local reports suggest that the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), the central bank, is in the process of finalizing a banking regulation and business directive that would allow the authorization of a bank operating under interest-free (Islamic finance) principles.
At the same time the government of Kenya is studying the possibility of issuing the country's debut sovereign sukuk issuance, while the First Community Bank (FCB), Kenya's second Islamic bank, has launched FCB Capital, which plans to issue a series of local currency sukuk plus other Islamic capital market products for a growing market segment.