UAE-based BOK International Bank (BOKI) has announced the assignment of Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB) as its sharia advisor, as it sets to launch new Islamic banking products in the country.

Under the new contract, SRB will provide BOKI with Sharia Board, certification and sharia audit services for its products and new lines of businesses.

The agreement with SRB will help BOKI improve operational stability in light of Sharia, reduce cost associated with Sharia supervision and implement a Sharia framework with high levels of Sharia Advisory quality, a statement said.

SRB will manage all operations and investments in a Sharia compliant manner across UAE and other key locations of the bank.

BOKI is the second regional branch for Bank of Khartoum, the largest provider of Corporate, Retail, Microfinance and Investment banking products in Sudan, operating since 1913. The newly established UAE branch has been granted a full service commercial bank license by the Central Bank of the UAE.

Akram Elbaloula, country CEO of BOKI in UAE, said: “We are led by a highly qualified, seasoned and focused team with exceptional banking experience and total commitment to comply with Shariah banking principles, with a focus on conducting international trade and commerce transactions benefiting from well-connected correspondent banking networks to facilitate treasury, trade finance business, and cash management banking services. More importantly, we look forward to actively contributing to UAE's ambitious plans to become the centre of Islamic finance globally.”

 “We are pleased to assign SRB as our Sharia Advisor on this journey. Their capabilities demonstrate significant transformations for banking businesses and with their support we aim to deliver world-class lines of products and services in a Sharia compliant manner to our users,” he added.

Sharia Board services is a field that is experiencing drastic changes in the past few years and one of the major changes has been to outsource the functions and its services to institutions like Shariyah Review Bureau. More and more financial institutions around the world are outsourcing their Sharia Board and sharia audit functions in order to save costs and valuable resources of the entity.
 
Yasser S Dahlawi, founder and CEO of SRB said: “Outsourcing Sharia compliance helps entities in scalability. The Sharia review and control processes lead to greater development with uniformity as the enterprise grows and further expands.”

“We are looking forward to working with BOKI and helping it transform and sustain its business in a Sharia compliant way,” he added. - TradeArabia News Service