MANAMA: The growth of Islamic banking has been remarkable in recent years and is expected to reach $4 trillion in the next five years, a top official at a newly established Islamic investment bank said.
The chairman of Capinnova Investment Bank, the Shariah compliant investment-banking arm of Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait (BBK), A. Karim Bucheery, said at the launch of the bank yesterday that the ongoing financial crisis should be seen as a window of opportunity especially by investments banks to invest in the sectors with huge potential of growth.
Bucheery, who is also CEO of BBK, was joined by Capinnova Investment Bank CEO Jamal Hijres, identified telecom, healthcare, agriculture and realty real estate as the most promising areas for investment banks.
Capinnova is licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain. The bank is wholly owned by BBK and has an authorized capital of $500 million and paid-up capital of $125 million. A senior executive of Capinnova said that they would expect to finalize at least two debut deals worth $130 million by end of March.
“We are confident that a realty project of worth $30 million in Bahrain and $100 million telecom JV in Kuwait will be finalized by the end of Q1,” said Hijres. “Capinnova Investment Bank aims to leverage on this exponential growth and further strengthen the Islamic Banking industry in Bahrain and across the region.”