The BankIslami is aiming at taking Shariah compliance to a level extending it to marketing, human resources and general outlook. This was stated by BankIslami CEO Hasan Bilgrami at an open house which was basically aimed at creating awareness of the Shariah compliant products being offered by the Bank and explaining them in detail the very concept of Islamic banking.
Bilgrami said since its inception in 2006 the BankIslami is providing banking facilities to its consumers the Islamic way. He said the bank offered a full range of Shariah compliant commercial banking products and services such as current accounts, saving accounts, foreign currency accounts and term deposits besides it has planned to launch risk weighted deposits.
Bilgrami said the bank is also planning to launch wealth management services, including integrated financial planning solutions, proprietary products, third party products and a host of other new retail banking products and services.
In the field of corporate banking, the BankIslami offers working capital finance, medium- and long-term finance, leasing/Ijarah, Islamic export refinance scheme and structured finance, letter of credit (sight and usance), letter of guarantee, forward cover, bill purchase, car and house financing, he said, adding it was the first bank in Pakistan to offer Internet banking since its inauguration.
Responding to a query, the BankIslami chief said it was the first bank in Pakistan as well as in the region to deploy biometric ATMs as a standard to ensure better security and service. The use of voice recognition technology in phone banking would also set a new standard.
The CEO said that BankIslami was the first bank to launch a home financing product which would be available for people earning as low as Rs 15,000 per month and for residents of all areas as there are no 'negative areas'. Bilgrami said the introduction of 'Muskun' was a step in the direction of offering personalised Shariah compliant products to all the financial strata.
With the launching of Muskun (home financing), the BankIslami had achieved another milestone in its Shariah compliant product menu, and is all geared up to become the leading service-provider in authentic Islamic Banking reaching out to the masses with 28 branches by year-end.-PR