A long-awaited mega Islamic bank to be headquartered in Bahrain may be launched this year and $600 million of its $one billion capital will be contributed by Islamic banks in the Arab region, a senior banker has said.
The remaining capital will be subscribed by local sovereign wealth funds and other financial institutions and investors, said Adnan Youssef, chairman of the Beirut-based Union of Arab Banks (UAB).
Touted to be the world’s largest Shariah-compliant unit, the bank idea was first floated in 2009 but was delayed many times because of the repercussions of the 2008 global fiscal distress, Gulf debt default problems, the European Union debt crisis and the political unrest sweeping the Middle East.