IslamicFinance.de

Jamal Darwiche, acting CEO of alizz islamic bank, has resigned from his position for personal reasons. The bank said that the board is engaged in filling this role permanently, but added that Saif al Yarubi will take on this responsibility during the interim period. Before joining alizz islamic bank in July 2012, Darwiche held the position of chief operating officer and general manager of retail banking at Masraf Al Rayan Bank in Qatar. Saif al Yarubi was appointed as chief financial officer at alizz islamic bank in September 2013. He joined alizz islamic bank after serving five years as finance director at Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD).

Omani lender Alizz Islamic Bank, the second full-fledged Islamic bank in the sultanate, plans to begin operations in the third quarter of this year, according to its chief operating officer Jamal Darwiche. Last October, the bank raised OMR40 million ($104 million) by selling 40 per cent of its capital through a month-long initial public offer of shares. It is targeting a 3.5 per cent share of financing and a 3.6 per cent share of deposits in Oman’s banking sector by 2017. Moreover, it aims for annual growth in total assets, financing and deposits of 15-20 per cent, and to build a customer base of between 65,000 and 100,000 accounts over five years.

After Capital Market Authority (CMA) has approved of the prospectus for Alizz islamic bank's shares offering, the bank has set the launch date of its initial public offering (IPO) on September 22. The IPO consists of 400mn shares. Expextations are that the bank will draw unbanked sections of the population into the market and that by 2015 Islamic banking assets in the country will exceed RO2bn.