Faysal Bank Limited will operate as a full-fledged Islamic bank from 2023 as its management has converted more than 90 percent of its operations into Islamic banking.
Speaking at the media briefing recently, Chief Financial Officer Syed Majid Ali said that the bank has received approval from its board of directors to apply for the license of an Islamic bank which will be granted by the banking regulator by December 2022.
The conversion of Faysal Bank Limited from the conventional banking system to Sharia-compliant will be a unique example not only in Pakistan but worldwide considering its size of assets and operations, he added.
“We have been requested to share the experience of the conversion as a study by different universities which will also be considered as a model for various financial institutions having plans for conversion in the mode of operations,” the CFO further said.
He mentioned that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has been supporting the management of Faysal Bank in its pursuit of conversion to the Islamic banking system.
Muhammad Faisal Shaikh, Head of Islamic Banking, said that the growth of Islamic banking in Pakistan has outpaced the growth of conventional banking mainly because of the preference of Pakistani customers for Islamic banking over interest-based banking.
He said the housing finance of the Islamic bank has nearly 60 percent share in the overall banking industry despite the fact that Islamic banking attained over 20 percent share in the overall banking system of the country.
He mentioned that Faysal Bank Limited introduced a wide range of financial products in Pakistan which are alternatives to what interest-based banks are offering in Pakistan, hence the bank’s products are the customers’ choice ultimately.
The bank is currently serving more than 0.5 million customers. The bank is operating 638 Islamic banking branches with only one branch left for conversion, he said.
