Islamic banking now at all City Bank branches

City Bank, one of the oldest banks in Bangladesh, yesterday rolled out its Islamic banking service in all branches and sub-branches throughout the country.

The move comes at a time when the market share of Islamic banks, in terms of assets, financing and deposits of the total banking sector, continues to register strong growth owing to increasing demand and supply of Shariah based products.

Of the 60 scheduled banks in Bangladesh, 10 are operating as full-fledged Shariah-compliant lenders while 23 conventional banks, including two foreign banks, offer Islamic banking services, according to Bangladesh Bank data.

And currently, Islamic banks and Islamic banking branches of conventional lenders account for more than one-fourth of the banking sector's total deposits and credit.

City Bank, which has been providing Shariah-based banking services since 2003 through one branch in Dhaka, added more deposits and investment products in 2011. As the demand has grown since then, it expanded the services across all branches.

"The importance of Islamic banking in the economy is immense now," said City Bank Chairman Aziz Al Kaiser at a press conference at The Westin Dhaka.

City Bank had launched its Shariah-based banking solutions in the name of Islamic finance considering the needs of customers.

At present, City Bank's deposits through its Islamic banking window stands at Tk 1,900 crore, which is around 6 per cent of its total deposits of roughly Tk 30,000 crore.

The private bank aims to increase the deposit through Shariah based products to Tk 10,000 crore within the next two or three years, said Arif Bin Idrish, head of the Islamic banking division at City Bank.

City Bank has over 150 branches and sub-branches where customers can now avail Islamic banking services. Customers will also be able to avail Islamic banking services through the lender's digital banking app, Citytouch.

"This is the first time in Bangladesh that a conventional bank has introduced Islamic banking services throughout all its branches," Idrish said.

At the event, City Bank also introduced an American Express Islamic credit card and debit card for its customers.

The bank said in order to ensure interest-free profit distribution, it provides profit among its customers through the investment income sharing ratio system.

Unlike other banks, the bank will not announce pre-determined profit rates for depositors through its Islamic banking service.

Customers will be able to avail benefits ranging from personal banking to corporate banking and trade, it added.

"Needless to say, our customers have played an important role in bringing us to where we are today and hopefully, they will be by our side in the future too," said City Bank Vice Chairman Hossain Khaled.

City Bank's Shariah Supervisory Committee Chairman Md Anwar Hosain Molla, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mashrur Arefin, and Additional Managing Director Sheikh Mohammad Maroof were present on the occasion.