Search results for: 'Islamic'

Mariam Fatima has recently joined Amana Bank as a member of the New Product Initiatives Division. Seeing the need for a Shariah-compliant pawn service (Qard Hasan) in Sri Lanka, Fatima presents this product gap to her team. During two years, she and her team develop a pawn service that complies with Islamic banking principles - finally offering lower-middle-class individuals the opportunity to borrow money more securely.

The Sukuk sector is the fastest growing sector of the Islamic Finance Industry. Indeed, it grew by 14% within just one year (between 2014 and 2015). The total outstanding Sukuk globally stood at US$ 342 billion at the end of 2015. Sukuk has been widely embraced globally as Sovereign Sukuk has been issued by various countries such as UK, Malaysia, Hong-Kong and South Africa. Supranational entities such as World Bank affiliates International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFI), the Islamic Development Bank Group and even companies such as Dubai Islamic Bank, Goldman Sachs and Zorly Energy have all issued Sukuk.

The Jordan Sovereign Sukuk transaction was the pioneer Sovereign Sukuk issuance by the country. Jordan, which is one of ICD’s member countries, has been very active for the past couple of years in terms of Islamic Finance regulations and framework given that it has four Islamic banks in operation in Jordan and passed the Islamic Finance Sukuk Law in 2012.

In 1993 Bank Muscat was among the smallest banks in the Sultanate of Oman but over the last decade has grown to be the largest with a 40% market share in 2013. This increase in terms of market relevance has been driven by both organic growth and external factors. In 2014 Franco Álvarez a foreign consultant is trying to help Bank Muscat build a comprehensive innovation model. His first step is focused on understanding the current state of innovation within the bank. The ´Ibda (Innovation) competition organized by the bank offers him a first glance of how internal innovation could be fostered in the bank.

The case provides insight into the innovation process in the Middle Eastern financial sector, focusing on Bank Muscat in Oman. It describes how an international consultant tries to help create an innovative model for the bank by asking top management questions and delving into the bank’s strategy. Through the questions he asks, readers learn about the history of the bank, the business culture and banking industry in Oman and Islamic banking. They also hear about an Ibda competition that ends up being a big inspiration for innovation at the bank.