IslamicFinance.de

According to Behnam Gurbanzadeh, IBA Islamic Finance Department Manager, the idea to establish the CIS Islamic Development Bank, proposed by IBA several years ago, has become attractive for their Russian colleagues. The interest of Russian banks for instruments like Islamic financing has suddenly increased. Russian banks have problems with funding and are actively looking for alternative sources of financing, Gurbanzadeh said. Last November he revived the idea of the CIS Islamic Development Bank and Russia together with Kazakhstan. IBA agreed to work on the establishment of a Working Group on Islamic financing under the CIS Financial and Banking Council.

Baku will become the regional Islamic financial center and has a potential to press internationally recognized centers. According to Behnam Gurbanzadeh, IBA (International Bank of Azerbaijan OJSC) Islamic Financing Department Manager, the idea to establish the CIS Islamic Development Bank proposed several years ago has become very attractive for the countries of the Commonwealth. In addition to Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan are very interested in establishing such a bank, Gurbanzadeh said. Today there are up to 700 million users of Islamic financial services in the world.