Photo/tribune.com.pk
United Arab Emirates (UAE) largest lender, Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) is set to start operations in Kenya following the issuance of license by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
The bank will operate locally as DIB Bank Kenya Limited and is the third lender to exclusively offer Shariah compliant banking services in Kenya.
DIB currently operates in six other markets.
In March this year, the central bank announced it was finalizing the processing of licence applications for DIB Kenya limited a fully owned subsidiary of Dubai Islamic Bank and Mayfair Bank, owned by local investors.
The two had already been granted an “approval in principle”, as a first step to lifting the moratorium on licensing of new commercial banks, the regulator noted.
After fulfilling all the requirements, CBK has now granted DIB Bank Kenya limited a license to operate in the market.
CBK says DIB’s entry will expand the offerings in the market, particularly in the nascent Sharia compliant banking niche.
The bank which offers exclusively sharia compliant services is the third Islamic lender in Kenya after Gulf African Bank Limited in 2007 and First Community Bank Limited in 2008.
The move comes at a time Kenya is embarking on amendment of various laws by June this year that will support sharia compliant services such as sovereign bonds that seeks to make Kenya a hub in the continent for Islamic products.
Kenya intends to tap into the Islamic finance market to raise capital expenditure.
Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC is the largest Islamic Bank in the UAE with assets worth Ksh 4.9 trillion shillings and Sh754.8 billion in capital.
Kenya will be the bank’s 7th market after Bosnia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sudan, Turkey and UAE.