Manama
Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB)’s integration with NBB, the second largest Bahraini bank by market capitalisation, is proceeding smoothly, the chairman of the Sharia-compliant lender has said.
In January this year, it was announced that NBB had acquired around 80 per cent stake in BisB.
Dr Esam Fakhro, chairman of BisB, told the BisB annual tech-driven event that together the two banks will provide a unified force, further leading to stronger economic growth.
Analysing the deal last December, credit ratings agency Moody’s had said the acquisition by NBB would be credit positive for BisB because it would give the Sharia-compliant lender access to NBB’s strong capitalisation, ample liquidity and a large customer base. NBB is one of the largest retail banks in Bahrain, with around a 12pc market share by total system assets.
Islamic finance penetration of systemwide loans are as high as 70pc for Bahrain.
Speaking during the virtual event themed ‘Celebrat-ing the Spirit of Innovation and Collaboration’, BisB chief executive Hassan Jarrar shed light on key achievements, success stories, and innovations launched during the year. This included being the first bank in the country to launch e-KYC technology, which results in a more efficient, entirely paperless procedure producing an effortless customer experience. The bank’s IT team installed state-of-the-art, 24/7 self-service kiosks across all branches and financial malls, which enable customers to complete a num-ber of daily transactions without the need for human intervention. Mr Jarrar said the achievements included the launch of solutions such as Tejoori Instant Finance in five minutes; Tap and Go, contactless cards, as well as open banking services in collaboration with Tarabut Gateway, which allows customers to easily view.–Zawya News
