03.04.2012, Khartoum –

In the presence of His Excellency President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir of the Republic of Sudan, the inaugural session of the 37th Annual Meeting of IDB’s Board of Governors in Khartoum, witnessed the signing of a tripartite memorandum of understanding for the establishment of a Mega Islamic Bank with a capital of one billion dollars. The MoU was signed between the State of Qatar, the Islamic Development Bank and Dallah Al Baraka Group. The total underwriting of the three founders will be up to US$ 500 million. The new bank is expected to target establishment and funding of infrastructure projects, along with a program for standardization of products compatible with the rules of Islamic law. The proposed bank is expected to provide attractive return to shareholders.

Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President, IDB Group and the official sponsor of the Mega Islamic Bank, stated that the objectives of the institution was to facilitate the establishment of a financial market amongst the Islamic banks and provide innovative solutions to manage liquidity through generation of assets and launching of an Islamic securities market. He explained that “the Mega Islamic Bank comes as an initiative of the Islamic Development Bank in its efforts to address the dearth of senior financiers, the absence of the Islamic tools of stock exchange and the absence of market liquidity between Islamic banks.”

Dr. Abdul Aziz Al Hinai, Vice President of the Islamic Development Bank, clarified that the new bank responds to the need for a financial institution that is able to lead the development processes such as the requirements of liquidity management in accordance with Islamic law; the provision of funding that is stable and the generation of assets of high-quality. Dr. Hinai praised efforts of the State of Qatar and its interest in developing Islamic banking. He added that the bank will be headquartered in Doha, Qatar, with regional branches in other countries.