DUBAI: A police investigation into irregularities at Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) and a probe into the bank’s affiliate Deyaar, have led to calls for better compliance and transparency in banks in the region.
Police in Dubai, a regional trade hub and financial center, have detained seven people, two of whom were former employees of DIB, as part of an embezzlement investigation, according to police and public prosecution records.
The high-profile case has triggered an avalanche of local media coverage in the booming oil-exporting states of the Gulf and threatens to mar the image of the nascent Islamic finance sector.
“All these latest issues suggest that there should potentially be better compliance. We need better communication and visibility when these situations arise,” Raj Madha, director of equity research at Cairo-based EFG-Hermes, told Reuters.
Islamic finance has grown rapidly in the past few years due to high demand for investments and financial services that comply with Islamic law — which includes a ban on the receipt of interest.
“There should be better supervision over these things,” said Mohammed Yasin, managing director at Shuaa Securities.
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have responded with several high-profile detentions that have captured the attention of the local media.
The two detainees who used to work for DIB are Rifat Usmani, former vice-president, and Omair Mooraj, managing director and head of Islamic banking in the region at J.P. Morgan Chase, formerly the managing director at a subsidiary of Dubai Islamic.
Lawyers for both Usmani and Mooraj denied any wrongdoing on behalf of their clients when contacted by Reuters. Dubai has become the defacto financial center for the Gulf and strives to build a reputation for clear regulations, transparency and low taxes.
“There is a new drive in the UAE which I have seen over the last three to four years, that no one is above the law,” said Essam Al-Tamimi, founder and senior partner of Al-Tamimi & Company, one of the largest law firms in the Middle East.
“The authorities have the power to investigate whoever breaks the law, whether they be local, British, whoever they are.”
DIB stock has fallen more than 13 percent in the past three months compared to an average 9 percent increase by rival banks in the UAE, according to Reuters data.
The clouds gathering over the Gulf’s third-largest Islamic-compliant bank risks affecting the Islamic finance sector on the whole.