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Al Baraka Bank, the islamic financial institution has joined several traditional banks in South Africa in aligning its Corporate Strategy and Social Investment responsibilities with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Al Baraka Bank has become part of the alignment with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Bahrain’s Al Baraka Bank deems that the regulatory framework in Morocco is conducive for the launch of an Islamic finance venture. The Bank’s Chief Executive, Adnan Ahmed Yousif said Al Baraka targets the expanding Islamic finance in Morocco in effort to diversify assets and revenues in Africa. Morocco is attractive for Islamic banks because of a competitive landscape that is free from large western lenders. Yousif added that reforms were being considered, but complete tax neutrality towards Islamic finance contracts was still needed. Bahrain’s Al Baraka group forged a partnership with Morocco’s BMCE Bank of Africa to create AL Baraka Maroc, which aims at creating a network of 25 agencies in Morocco.

Al Baraka Bank has finished due diligence for the proposed merger of Burj Bank. Abid Qamar, chief spokesman at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), said Al Baraka was given permission for due diligence of Burj Bank and they have completed the process. Summit Bank and Bank of Khyber were also interested in Burj Bank, but they did not carry out any due diligence process. The deal is expected to be completed within next three months, but the complete integration of both entities would take six to eight months. The potential deal would be a part of the significant efforts, currently being made by the SBP, to fix the problem of the small banks that fell below the minimum capital adequacy ratio requirement and minimum paid-up capital requirement.

Kader Merbouh, expert en finance islamique penser que la finance islamique est la solution pour capter l’épargne dormante et en dehors du circuit bancaire en Algérie. L’Algérie a été un point d’encouragement à la finance islamique. Tant par les banques conventionnelles qui proposeront dans les prochaines années des produits de la finance islamique pour capter leur clientèle et tant par les banques islamiques comme Salam ou Baraka. Il y a aussi l’arrivée de nouveaux acteurs qui voudront être présents sur le marché algérien. Cela va créer une triple dynamique. L’Algérie est un marché formidable. La loi de modernisation bancaire en Algérie va introduire quelques règlements pour faciliter la finance islamique.

In order to promote the SBP initiative for SME sector and for Agri Financing, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Al Baraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited & Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited, for the facilitation of ‘Tractor Financing’ at Al Baraka House, Karachi. This MoU will allow the farmers and agriculturists to avail Shariah compliant financing options for rural financing including financing of tractors and other credit facilities, with quicker processing and flexible payment options. Al Baraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited (ABPL) is a part of Al Baraka Banking Group, Bahrain, and has a network of 150 branches spread over 94 cities & Towns across Pakistan.

International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Al Baraka Bank are cooperating to expand the availability of trade finance for Egyptian importers to help spur economic growth and create jobs. Under this agreement, Al Baraka Bank becomes the third Egyptian bank, and the first Islamic bank in the country, to join IFC's Global Trade Finance Programme (GTFP). IFC guarantees will help Al Baraka Bank clients import commodities that are critical to the local market, including raw materials, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers and spare parts that will support different manufacturing sectors. In fiscal 2015, IFC's GTFP committed over $1 billion in the Middle East and North Africa region and over $6 billion around the world.

The Tripoli-based Libyan Audit Bureau has confirmed that Jordan based Al Baraka bank has returned a transfer from Libya for being ‘‘suspicious’’ and for ‘‘funding terrorism’’. The transfer originating from the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) were intended to cover Libyan student scholarships in Jordan. The Audit Bureau revealed that it had, in cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education and the CBL, opened an independent bank account for the Cultural Attaché at its Amman embassy specifically for scholarship funds. However, the Audit Bureau admitted that the Libyan embassy broke procedures and regulations and an agreement by using the funds on other spending rather than for student scholarships.

Bahrain-based Islamic lender Al Baraka expects at least 15 percent growth in net profit this year as its business recovers across a region hit by the Arab Spring unrest. The growth will also be fuelled by the company's entry into the Moroccan and Libyan markets and expansion in Tunisia. In Syria, where the bank has 10 branches, it has not been able to expand operations since the 2011 start of the civil war. The bank's fast growing 30-branch Algerian subsidiary has now captured nearly 5 percent of the country's foreign trade business and plans are under way for further expansion. The lender hopes to expand its global branch network from a current 480 to around 560 branches by end of 2014, with half of the 84 new branches opened in Turkey and Pakistan. The focus of expansion remains fast growth areas in the Middle East and Asia such as Pakistan and Indonesia because the Gulf is overbanked.

Bahrain-based Al Baraka Bank wants its new five-year global expansion strategy to put more emphasis on Africa, particularly North Africa. The bank already has ventures in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Its goal is to grow group assets and income almost twofold in the next five years. This five-year expansion plan will certainly include investments in Libya and Morocco. The bank could splurge up to $100 million this year in Libya. In Morocco, the financial services firm will launch a separate operation with a $100 million initial capital outlay within 12 months. Moreover, the group is thinking about having an Al Baraka Bank Africa brand presence.

Al Baraka Bank (Pakistan) unveiled its new head office, ‘Al Baraka House’ in the city of Karachi, Pakistan on 20 April 2013. The new building was inaugurated by Chairman Al Baraka Bank Pakistan, Adnan Ahmed Yousif, who is also the President and Chief Executive of Al Baraka Banking Group. Adnan Ahmed Yousif emphasized the global strength of Al Baraka as a global Islamic bank, with presence of over 500 branches in more than 15 countries around the world.

Albaraka Turk mandated four banks to secure a $200 million subordinated loan from international sukuk markets. Albaraka Turk is the Turkish subsidiary of Bahraini lender Al Baraka Bank.

DURBAN-based Al Baraka Bank launched a full international foreign exchange service and now offers a full range of international banking services. As part of the Al Baraka Banking Group it can leverage off the group and its 14 subsidiaries around the world. According to the bank's CE Shabir Chohan, the full foreign exchange service coupled with the recently launched chequebook facility will position the bank as a competitive commercial bank in South Africa.

FNB and Al Baraka Bank froze the bank accounts of Al Aqsa Foundation after it was added to the US Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control list. According to the US departments website Al Aqsa funnels money collected for charitable purposes to Hamas terrorists. However, foundation spokesman Melissa Hoole denied ties to that organisation. Al Baraka had since agreed to allow some activity in the account.

Al Baraka shall provide Shari'ah-compliant finance to small projects in Egypt with cooperation with World Bank through the Social Fund and its subsidiary in Egypt. Bank authorities claimed in their statement that small projects hast become the highest priority for countries and international financial instututions due to high unemployment rates.

Bahraini Islamic bank Al Baraka Banking Group set its purpose for 15% growth in net profit this year and wants to buy a 75pc stake in an unlisted Indonesian bank as part of its global expansion plan.
Adnan Ahmed Yousif, Al Baraka's chief executive, revealed that they are discussing with Chinese shareholders of an Indonesian bank.

Al Baraka had a 2011 full-year profit of $212m, up 10pc on the profit registered in 2010. The bank plans to open 50 more branches this year throughout the world, out of which 20 will be in Turkey and five in Algeria, respectively Egypt.

Inspite of the extraordinary potential of the country, financial institutions in Pakistan are still not taking Islamic micro financing seriously.
According to Al Baraka Bank Chief Operating Officer Ahmed Shuja Kidwai, Islamic micro finance is notably important for Pakistan because it’s a developing economy and has a huge untapped market. He added that he was one of those managers who believe in learning the fundamentals of a market and analyzing how to make it into a success.
He gave as examples the following countries: Italy, Iran, India and Malaysia, which have grown their industries through micro financing in just 10-15 years.

The Bahrain Bourse decreased a quarter percent and closed at 1,144.29 points.
Islamic Bank Al Baraka Banking Group underlined that it has not yet got a license to organize a private bank in Libya and the public and shareholders will subsequently be notified once the license is obtained.

Adnan Ahmed Yousif, the chief executive of Al Baraka Bank, stated that discussions are still on about whether a long-touted $3bn Islamic megabank is going to be based in Bahrain or Qatar although a final decision has not yet been made.
It seems that it is more likely that the bank will be based in Bahrain.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is often seen as a region that has exciting potential for the Islamic finance market, being home for more than 250mn Muslims. Beside the obvious religious aspects, the products are typically based on tangible assets and prohibit excessive risk-taking.
At this point, Islamic finance in SSA is focused in a few key markets and there are only a few dedicated institutions. South Africa is one of the leaders, thanks to Al Baraka Bank and Oasis Group.

The chief executive of Al Baraka bank announced that the bank wants to buy an Indonesian bank for around $100 million by year-end.
Adnan Yousif stated that they will send a delegation to seek the market.