Tripoli, 14 November:
The chief executive of Al Baraka Banking Group, Adnan Ahmed Yousif, has said that preparations are in hand for . . .[restrict]the Bahrain-based Islamic banking company to open a branch in Libya.
“We have continued activating our representative office in Libya,” Yousif said, “where we are preparing to expand into the Libyan market and provide various banking services to a full range of clients, from individuals and companies to government agencies.”
In an announcement detailing Al Baraka’s nine-month financial results, which have risen by 10 percent to $183 million, Yousif said the bank’s branch expansion had contributed to the rise in profits.
“The subsidiary units of the group in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and South Africa continued their expansion by opening new branches in the first nine months of the year and this had direct positive impact on growing their deposit base and financing portfolios,” Yousif said.
Yousif said that Al Baraka branches in 13 countries had increased from 399 branches at the end of December 2011 to 417 branches. He added: “We expect that total branches of the group’s units will exceed 500 during the coming three years?.”
In February this year Al Baraka first announced its plans for a Libyan branch. At present, there is no specific legislation addressing the issue of Sharia banking. However, leading bankers have said recently that they believe there is a demand for Sharia-compliant banking and that they would back new legislation enabling it to operate in the country. [/restrict]
