BAKU: International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), the country’s biggest lender, plans to raise $100m through an Islamic syndicated loan this year to develop Islamic banking in the country, the bank said in a statement.
A senior IBA executive said at the end of 2012 that the bank was planning to raise a $150m Islamic loan in 2013 and double its Islamic banking assets to $120m by the end of this year.
“IBA held a series of presentations together with organisers of the syndication in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar,” the bank said.
Emirates NBD Capital Limited, Barwa Bank, J P Morgan Limited and Noor Islamic Bank are among organisers of the syndication.
The one-year private syndication would be the first of its kind in Azerbaijan and would help IBA cater to the estimated 93 percent of its 9 million population who are Muslims. IBA, 50.2 percent-owned by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Finance, holds a 40 percent share of banking assets in Azerbaijan. .
Reuters
