Standard Chartered Bank, British based multinational banking institution, has launched its Islamic banking offering for its African customers under the brand name of Saadiq in Kenya.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!With this launch, Kenya becomes the first market for Standard Chartered’s African footprint for Islamic banking.
Saadiq, which means Truthful in Arabic, represents Standard Chartered’s Islamic banking proposition offered across the world to Muslim and non Muslim clients.
“We feel that for Islamic Banking to grow, we also need to be here for our customers. If the Islamic market starts growing in Africa at the level it is growing globally today, it will become a significant part of the financial system in this region as well,” said Afaq Khan, Standard Chartered Bank CEO Islamic Banking,
Khan added that Africa is the next frontier for the Islamic Banking sector.
Global figures indicate that the Islamic finance market is growing with investments now worth over $1trillion. Locally, the Islamic banking industry has grown in under five years to account for 2 percent of the total banking business in Kenya.
“This shows Kenya’s huge potential and opportunity. As a major international bank with a long-standing heritage and a global network, Standard Chartered is ideally placed to play a prominent role in this ever-expanding market,” added Khan.
Kenya CEO, Lamin Manjang said that the offering comes as response to the increased demand from the Bank’s customers.
“We are seeing more commercial banks open their doors to Islamic Banking products in a bid to satisfy a growing demand in the market,” said Manjang.
Manjang was optimistic that Africa is better placed to enjoy stronger growth than other Standard Chartered markets, where Islamic Banking is already established. This is due to Africa’s ability to adopt best practices already tried and tested through Asian and Middle Eastern markets.
