ABG, Venture Capital top key Islamic banks list
MANAMA, September 10, 2015
Bahrain’s Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG) and Venture Capital Bank lead the GCC Islamic Financial Disclosure Index Rankings, it has emerged.
The conveners of the 22nd annual World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC) revealed the ranking of the top five GCC Islamic banks rated according to their financial disclosure, subsequent to the announcement of the launch of the WIBC Leaderboard, said a statement.
As per the rankings, the banks, both based in Bahrain are positioned at the top of the Islamic financial institutions in the GCC with a score of 69 and 68 respectively, it said.
Middle East Global Advisors, the organisers of the WIBC for the past 22 years, has utilised the Financial Disclosure Index as one of the sub-indicators of the WIBC Leaderboard, an industry benchmark that will form the basis of the WIBC Performance Awards 2015.
The ceremony for the awards will be held at the Gala Dinner of the 22nd Annual World Islamic Banking Conference which will take place from December 1 to 3 at Gulf Hotel Bahrain.
The financial disclosure rating measures the extent to which customers and stakeholders are protected through disclosure of ownership and financial information.
The index ranges from zero to 100, with higher values indicating more disclosure, said the statement.
First in the series of the WIBC Leaderboard performance indicators, the Financial Disclosure Index chart showed the bank’s name (horizontal axis) and Financial Disclosure Index score (vertical axis) of the top five Islamic banks in the GCC ranked on the basis of financial disclosure score, it added.
Adnan Ahmed Yousif, president and chief executive officer, Al Baraka Bank, said: “It is important to understand that increased globalization has been the basis of a highly interrelated economic and financial system.
"In such a scenario the risks of the unknown and unexpected are fairly high and the only way to downplay such risks is through appropriate disclosure of important information.”
“Islamic banks are doing well to downplay such risks by disclosing financial information consistently," he added. - TradeArabia News Service
