Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 16 / Trend A.Akhundov /
International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) has defined the development priorities of the Islamic financing for 2013-2016.
This was said on Friday by the head of the Islamic Banking Department of IBA Behnam Gurbanzade.in his speech at the V Baku International Banking Conference of the CIS states on 'Financial markets of the CIS: new opportunities and global risks'
"During this period, we plan to introduce Islamic financing, develop financing of corporate customers, expand attraction of foreign investments. The fourth direction is to provide the entry of local investors to international markets," Gurbanzade said.
According to him, an analysis of local legislation is held simultaneously for the empowerment of Islamic finance in Azerbaijan.
"Participation of foreign consultants in the process is possible. Perhaps, this will be an international accounting firm KPMG. At present establishment of a separate office and preparation of corresponding software is underway," Gurbanzade said.
According to him, today the Bank offers six services on Islamic finance, three new individual products are being developed.
"The range will be expanded after the change in legislation. Today the most important limitation is the fact that banks are not allowed to be engaged in commercial activities in trade, that means, the banks cannot buy an asset with the purpose of selling it. The second question is the regulatory documents of the Azerbaijani Central Bank. Amendments to the Civil Code, the tax and customs legislation have to be made in order to expand Islamic finance," Gurbanzade told Trend.
According to him, the IBA invests in the training of personnel in the field of Islamic finance.
"We are considering creating a special laboratory for training of personnel. Negotiations are led with universities of UK, UAE, Malaysia," Gurbanzade said.
IBA was the first in the banking market to start providing Islamic banking services in 2003. The bank carried out activities in this field through attracted resources from the IDB.
The consortium of Salans, KPMG, Pinsent Masons and Dar al Shariah companies assisted IBA in the creation of specialized structures for the provision of Islamic banking products and services.
The IBA was founded in January 1992 and is the largest bank in the country. Its main shareholder is the Azerbaijani government, which owns 50.2 per cent of the shares, while 49.8 per cent is owned by private physical and legal bodies.