IFC announce Islamic financing solutions for small and medium enterprises

IFC has spent a lot of time researching and studying the financial needs of this growing segment and has a new dedicated department to serve this niche market.

IFC has qualified resources and technical capabilities to offer fully shariah compliant financing solutions to SME's in order to meet all their working capital, trade and Capex needs.

Mohammad Shaheed Khan, Senior Vice President, head of Investments and product development said:

"In emerging countries banks have largely focused on the profitable corporate business. Although SMEs account for about 80% of the UAE's business and represents the lifeblood of local trade, financial institutions have generally ignored this sector. The under service to SME sector has primarily been due to the reasons of non transparent information, SMEs being small and often undercapitalized, their being perceived high risk due to having inadequate collateral, their weak financials result in a weaker credit profile, and they are not considered profitable as there are higher cost to serve them owing to transactions being small and numerous. However we at IFC feel that SME market offers opportunities of growth due to the large and still largely underserved market. It gives us portfolio diversification, opportunities to cross sell products, and it becomes a source of stable income.

IFC is targeting a range of clients from retail shops to trading companies and small manufacturers.

It is a real cross-section of the thriving UAE business community.

We have a holistic view of "SME banking" rather than a narrower view of "SME Lending".

Banks generally use credit to attract and retain clients however strong revenue generation comes from value added products and services.

IFC's letter of credit for trade will instantly be recognized around the world as IFC has paired with a number of big Islamic banks to offer trade facility for IFC clients. IFC will also be the leading Islamic institution to offer Shariah compliant factoring Services in the UAE."

IFC is a financing company, established in 2006, which has with a number of companies under its supervision.

The company has well diversified investment portfolio in real estate, healthcare, education and oil sectors through its subsidiaries in the UAE and the GCC.

Islamic Finance Co recently went through a full scale administrative and logistical re-engineering of its processes and alignment of its overall long term strategy.

This was developed by the new executive team and the existing Board.

The new management has succeeded in achieving remarkable financial results in a short period of time; half year net profit exceeded Dhs400m, or 40% of paid up capital.

The operational profit from financing exceeded 25% of gross profit or Dhs100m.

In May 2008 IFC and Bait Al Batterjee Holding announced that the construction of their joint project - Saudi German Hospital in Dubai - has been completed.

The project built on a 90,000 square meters of land and estimated at a cost of $200m, will include in the first phase the construction of the general hospital and in the second phase the building of six specialized sub-specialty departments.

Additionally IFC has 50% equity share in Batterjee Medical College, the largest private medical college in the Middle East.