IslamicFinance.de

Russia’s VEB development bank plans to announce its first deals with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in the near future. VEB Chairman Sergey Gorkov said the bank may announce particular transactions in the autumn this year. However, there are several opposite viewpoints regarding the partnership. Russia’s Federation Council deputy speaker Yevgeny Bushmin said that the Central Bank and the Russian legislation are not prepared for promotion of Islamic banking in the country.

The Islamic banking system continues making its way to Russia, although not as quickly as its supporters would like, primarily Russian Muslims who number 21 million people, according to various estimates. The main problems relate to the need to change the Russian legislation. But the first steps in this direction are already being made. A draft of amendments to the Civil Code was submitted to the State Duma this week to help separate Islamic money flows from non-Islamic funds. The document prepared by Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for the Financial Market Dmitry Savelyev stipulates opening special bank accounts to allow investing funds on these accounts into assets permitted by the Code of Muslim Laws.

An agreement has been reached in Groznyy, the capital of Russia's Chechen Republic, to open an Islamic bank in the republic, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said. Executives of Mazkorp company Hilal Suhail Hilal Rashid Al Mazrouei and Wael Saab came from the UAE and agreed to start implementing the project. Opening of the bank is of enormous value for the republic, Kadyrov said. Large properties are under development in Chechnya with participation of capital from the UAE. The decision was also made at the meeting with the management of Mazkorp on shareholding participation in development of Magnus-Groznyy pharmaceutical cluster to start next year and on investment into construction of Ahmat-Tower multifunctional high-rise property in the capital of Chechnya.