Considering the prompt emergence of the Islamic banking activities in the country, the central bank has undertaken various steps to expedite its growth and paving the way of building up a distinct and dependable Islamic financial market.

Keeping this aim in view, Bangladesh Bank has recently decided to relax some conditions of the Islamic Investment Bond.

Talking to daily sun, the Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank, S K Sur Chowdhury, said they are trying to make the Islamic development bond more profitable by bringing changes in some salient features of the said bond.

The Islamic Investment Bond works as the only call money market among the full-fledged Islami banks in the country as they never go for borrowing money from other conventional banks or financial institutions, Chowdhury added.

A meeting on Bangladesh Government Islami Investment Bond (BGIIB), held at Bangladesh Bank on November 16, took some decisions that would benefit the buyers of Islami bonds.

The decisions include opportunity of using short term use of the bond; mean one month, three months, six months, and one year term, which was earlier for six months, one year and two years. Changing the term it will increase the profit of bond fund, earlier the borrower had to deposit a certain amount as security money for borrowing money but the central bank now decided to relax the security system and said that the borrower may submit a guarantee letter instead of security instrument, introduction of open auction system for borrowing money from bond fund.

The present Investment Deposit Ratio (IDR) for Islami Banks is 90 percent while for the conventional banks the Credit Deposit Ratio (CDR) is 85 percent. The meeting decided that both for the Islami and conventional banks, the borrowed amount will be considered as their deposit so that the ready-to-invest fund of the banks will be increased.

Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank, S K Sur Chowdhury presided over the meeting while Islami Banking expert and Adviser of AB Bank, M. Azizul Huq, Chief Financial Officer of Islami Bank, Mohammad Nesar Uddin, MDs and representatives of various Islami Banks and Islami Banking Wings of conventional banks were present in the meeting.

Chairman of the Task Committee of the Islami Banks Consultative Forum (IBCF), also the managing director of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd., Md. Abdul Mannan said that the emergence of the Islamic banking is so prompt because its objectives is maximization of welfare for the general people.

He said Islamic banking is real asset based banking where money is treated as good but itself is not a commodity, it works with real goods and bring the general activities of common people under the banking coverage.

The people gradually coming to understand the inherent strength of Islamic banking, not only for the religious reason but to whom the banking ideas are clean, can easily understand the difference of conventional and Islamic banking, Mannan said.

He further informed that IBCF, the only forum for the Islamic banks, has been relentlessly working for a uniform accounting concept, standardisation and developing a distinct Islamic money market that would help each other indeed.

He said they have been working with the central bank for the development of Islamic banking guidelines and also for the Islamic Banking Act.

Currently, there have seven full-fledged Islamic banks in the country distributing various Islamic banking products while there have more seven conventional banks who have recently come up with their Islamic banking wings and branches in city and elsewhere in the country.

There are a total of 637 branches and wings of Islamic banks operating in the country of which the seven full-fledged Islami Banks have 616 branches while others 11 traditional banks have 37 branches.

Source: The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 19h Nov 2011