Tuesday, October 14, 2008

WORLD’S BEST ISLAMIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS 2008


Global Finance magazine has announced its first annual awards for the World’s Best Islamic Financial Institutions. A full report on the selections will appear in the June issue of Global Finance. The winners of this year’s awards are those banks that contributed to the growth of Islamic financing and successfully met their customers’ needs for Shariah-compliant products, while creating the foundation for continued fast growth in the future.

All selections were made by the editors of Global Finance, after extensive consultations with bankers, corporate finance executives and analysts throughout the world. In selecting these top banks, we considered factors that range from the quantitative objective to the informed subjective. Banks were invited to submit entries supporting their selection. Amid nominallly objective criteria were growth in assets, profitability, geographic reach, strategic relationships, new business development and innovation in products. Subjective criteria included opinions of equity analysts, banking consultants and others involved in the industry. The mix of these factors yields leading banks that may not be the largest, oldest or the most diversified in a given country, but rather the best – the banks with which corporations around the world would most likely want to do business.

“Shariah-compliant finance is the fastest-growing area of finance worldwide, with more than 300 financial institutions that are either fully Islamic or selling Islamic finance products, in addition to several hundred more Islamic investment banks and insurance companies, or takaful,” says Global Finance’s publisher Joseph D. Giarraputo. “The winning banks were all noteworthy in their dedication to satisfying their customers’ needs in accordance with the rules of Islamic finance.”

Overall Winner:
Best Sukuk Bank: Kuwait Finance House
Best Islamic Retail Bank: Dubai Islamic Bank
Best Islamic Investment Bank: Unicorn Investment Bank
Best Takaful Provider: Solidarity Group
Best Asset Management Company: Saudi British Bank (SABB)
Best Shariah-Compliant Index Provider: Dow Jones Indexes

Regional Awards:
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): Samba Financial Group
Non-GCC Middle East/North Africa: Islamic International Arab Bank
Asia: CIMB Islamic
Europe: Deutsche Bank

Country Awards:
Algeria: Banque Albaraka d’Algéria
Bahrain: ABC Islamic Bank
Bangladesh: Islami Bank Bangladesh
Brunei: Islamic Bank of Brunei
Egypt: Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt
France: BNP Paribas
Germany: Deutsche Bank
India: Kotak Mahindra
Indonesia: Bank Syariah Mandiri
Iran: Bank Saderat Iran
Jordan: Islamic International Arab Bank
Kuwait: Kuwait Finance House
Lebanon: Arab Finance House
Malaysia: CIMB Islamic Bank
Pakistan: Meezan Bank
Qatar: Qatar Islamic Bank
Saudi Arabia: Samba Financial Group
Singapore: Islamic Bank of Asia
Sudan: Al Salam Bank - Sudan
Turkey: Türkiye Finans
United Arab Emirates: Dubai Islamic Bank
United Kingdom: HSBC Amanah
United States: Shariah Capital

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