Amana Bank Photos: 1st Commercial Islamic Bank in Sri Lanka Opens

Amãna Bank is Sri Lanka’s first licensed commercial bank to conduct the entirety of its banking operations in complete harmony with the principles of Islamic banking. This newest commercial bank of Sri Lanka was declared opened on 1st of August 2011 the Governor of Sri Lanka Central Bank at a simple ceremony held at its Corporate Office premises in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3. Here are some photos of the bank’s launch event obtained from the 10th Aug Amana Bank Media Release.

The Governor of Sri Lanka Central Bank unveiling the Amana Bank name board.

Over the last 10 years, Amana group of Sri Lanka developed its insurance and investment divisions as it prepared to become a fully fledged commercial bank. Amãna Bank as a commercial bank now offers a range of financial products and services including Current Accounts, Savings Accounts, Children’s Savings Account, Term Investment Accounts, Home Financing, Leasing, SME Banking, Corporate Banking, Trade Services and Treasury Services. It has 14 branches around the island open now. The 14 branch locations are in Colombo 3 (Main Branch and Ladies’ Branch), Pettah, Kandy, Kurunegala, Akurana, Gampola, Mawanella, Galle, Oddamavadi, Kattankudy, Kalmunai, Akkaraipattu and Sammanthurai.

The Governor of the Central Bank, Mr Ajith Nivard Cabraal addressing the gathering at the launch event.

The Amana bank’s current shareholding amounts to 3.4 billion Sri Lanka rupees ($31.1 million). Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad accounts for 20 percent of Amana’s strategic investments, while AB Bank, Bangladesh, has a stake of 15 percent and Saudi Arabia’a Islamic Development Bank has 10 percent.

The Chairman of Amana Bank, Mr Osman Kassim sharing his thoughts.

According to a Reuters.com report about Amana Bank, the Sri Lanka Islamic finance industry has the potential to become a $1.5 billion business, given appropriate tax and other laws approved by Sri Lankan government based on sharia, the Islamic legal system. And even though Muslims make up about 8 percent of Sri Lanka’s 21 million people, Islamic financial products are also popular among non-Muslims due to their interest-free nature.

The Managing Director/CEO of Amana Bank, Mr Faizal Salieh speaking to the audience at the launch event.

For further information and details about this new Amana bank in Sri Lanka visit their website at www.amanabank.lk.

At this moment while we rejoice on this great moment for Sri Lanka Muslims to do their banking activities according to the Shariah, we also need to think about and address the challenges and problems faced by the Sri Lankan Islamic banking sector.

These challenges according to Mr. K.H.Azam Ahamed (who wrote an article about the Benefits of Islamic Banking in the Sunday Times) are the lack of Islamic banking professionals and the lack of Shari’ah scholars who have specialized in Islamic economics. Mr Azam notes that any Shari’ah board should have a fair influence on a bank’s operational and strategic planning. For this process to be successful, the Shari’ah boards of Sri Lankan Islamic banks should absorb Islamic scholars based on their technical expertise rather than their popularity.