IslamicFinance.de

Iran is working on a plan to establish a joint bank with Azerbaijan. Elman Rustamov, the chairman of Azerbaijan's Central Bank (CBA) is discussing the matter with Iran's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ali Tayyebnia. The two neighbors are also discussing the opening of branches of the two countries’ banks in Baku and Tehran. The Iranian minister said the main obstacle on the way of banking cooperation is the existing sanctions against Iran's financial sector.

Hikmet Allahverdiyez, director of Moore Stephens in Azerbaijan, has the strong oppinion that if banks won't be aloud to have more freedom to invest across the economy, Islamic finance will fail. Azerbaijani banks can only provide "a limited set of Shari'ah compliant products" to retail customers.
At the end of last year Elman Rustamov, chairman of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, stated that the CBA has no plans to develop Islamic banking within the next two to three years.