Bank Islami is determined to provide interest-free system to the people enabling them to carry out their financial transactions in accordance with the Islamic laws, President and Chief Executive Officer Hassan Bilgrami said on Monday.
"Bank Islami Pakistan Limited started its operations in the country from the second quarter of 2006, with the sole purpose of providing banking facilities to its consumers in strict compliance to the Islamic laws," Bilgrami said in an interview.
He said currently, the Bank had six branches located in Clifton, SITE, Korangi, Shaheed-e-Millat Road, Rashid Minhas Road and Defence areas of Karachi. In its first year of operations, Bank Islami plans to open 10 branches and a number of banking centers.
It plans to expand its network to different cities of Pakistan such as Islamabad, Lahore, Quetta, Faisalabad, Peshawar and Multan etc. Bank Islami will have 36 branches and 83 banking centers all over Pakistan in next three years.
The banking centers are automated smart branches that will have a Customer Service desk along with mostly self-service facilities like Biometric ATM, Internet banking facility, phone banking booth etc. The Bank Islami is sponsored by three financially sound and reputable groups, including the DCD Group, Dubai Bank and Jahangir Siddiqui and Company Ltd Bank Islami is the first bank to have been licensed by the State Bank of Pakistan under the new licensing guidelines of 2003.
The bank intends to offer Shariah compliant integrated financial planning services, proprietary and third party products and host of other new retail banking products and services in future. The interest-free banking is a narrow concept denoting a number of banking instruments or structures, which avoid interest.