IslamicFinance.de

In 2007, Bank Aljazira's conversion into the first fully sharia-compliant institution in Saudi Arabia was complete.This transformation required changes to BAJ's infrastructure, offerings and legal environment, among other aspects. Moreover, investments in product development as well as branch and ATM networks were made. The bank simultaneously increased its paid-up capital to SAR 3bn, which came entirely from the bank’s profits. In order to ensure compliance with all sharia banking and financing principles; this led to the formation of a Sharia Advisory Board, which is composed of a number of scholars specialised in sharia-compliant banking. Besides, BAJ launched a SAR 100m programme named Khair Aljazira Le Ahl Aljazira which aims at providing financial support to various charitable societies.

BAJ’s financial strength rating has been affirmed at “BBB” with a stable outlook. The bank’s long-term foreign currency rating has been affirmed at “BBB+” and its short-term foreign currency rating at “A2.” The ratings agency Capital Intelligence noted BAJ’s sound liquidity, strong customer deposit growth and improved profitability and highlighted the benefits of a reviving equity market to BAJ’s business. Nabil Al-Hoshan, CEO and MD of the Bank, was pleased that the banks strong underlying fundamentals had been recognized with this affirmation.