Mawarid signs bank guarantee registration agreement with UAE Ministry of Finance and Industry

The agreement entitles Mawarid Finance to accept financial guarantees from organizations and reimburse them on expiry of the guarantee period.

The guarantees will be registered through the e-Dirham system (E-registration) as part of the partnerships between the public and private sectors.

The agreement was signed by Saleh Abdul Ghaffar Al Hashimi, deputy CEO and board member of Mawarid Finance, and Faisal Ali Al Mansouri, manager of the revenues department in the Ministry of Finance and Industry.

Al Mansouri said the agreement is in line with the ministry's plan to expand the base of organizations that provide automatic registration of bank guarantees, thus simplifying procedures for dealing with the Ministry of Labor.

It is also forms part of the Ministry's commitment to cooperate more with private sector institutions.

Al Hashimi said the signing comes as a result of Mawarid's strategic and ambitious plans to diversify its services. The company's retail portfolio currently includes home and auto finance, while on the corporate side Mawarid provides deposits, working capital, project finance, trade and asset financing.

He commented: "Working with the Ministry of Finance and Industry and other governmental, federal and local parties will of course benefit most market segments including local citizens and expatriates and the country as a whole, as well as satisfying current demand through providing advanced Islamic finance products and services."

Al Mansouri explained that providing automatic registration of bank guarantees is a mechanism of registering the guarantee letter issued by the banks to secure the rights of contracted laborers.

The value of the guarantee as agreed by the bank and its clients is registered on the e-Dirham system.

This is part of the federal government's desire to develop and improve the guarantee of laborers' rights in accordance with federal laws.

Al Mansouri stressed that the department of revenues within the Ministry of Finance and Industry is currently working on a detailed plan to develop and enhance the e-Dirham system and expand the base of parties dealing with this system.

This will include enhancing the department's website, developing ATM machines, automatic telephone reply system, and other services provided through the e-Dirham system that will be marketed to leading businesses operating in the UAE.

Mawarid Finance is a private joint stock company established in Dubai end of 2006 with a paid-up capital of one billion dirham. The company plans to introduce a new vision within the Islamic finance sector to both retail and corporate customers in the region.

The company has launched a group of sharia'a-compliant products and services in addition to investment opportunities within different sectors
for its clients in the United Arab Emirates. All these products and services are based on the concepts of Murabaha, Ijara, Istisnaa, Mudharaba, Musharaka and Wakala in Islamic finance.