Dubai Islamic Bank launches Al Islami Salam Finance

With low salary requirements, minimal documentation and rapid processing, Al Islami Salam Finance is the latest Sharia-compliant product introduced by the world's first Islamic bank, which offers a complete suite of personal, business and corporate finance solutions.

The product is based on the Islamic financing structure of Salam, which is a sale contract whereby the Bank pays the cash price in advance, and the Customer agrees to deliver goods with certain specifications and quantity on agreed future dates.

Developed by the bank with the assistance of its subsidiary, Dar Al Sharia Legal & Financial Consultancy LLC, and approved by DIB's Sharia Supervisory Board headed by Dr. Hussain Hamed Hassan, Al Islami Salam Finance provides customers the opportunity to receive cash price in advance, for a commitment to deliver a certain described commodity to Dubai Islamic Bank on agreed future dates. The product has also been presented to and approved by the United Sharia Committee of UAE Islamic financial institutions.

"Al Islami Salam Finance represents a milestone in Islamic banking," said Abdulla Al Hamli, Chief Executive Officer, DIB. "It is set to revolutionise the future of Sharia-compliant banking in the region, and we are certain that it will prove extremely popular within our diverse customer base."

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Adnan Chilwan, Chief of Retail and Business Banking, DIB said: "Over the last few years, we have received feedback from our customers of a need for cash for various uses. In the absence of such a product, customers were compelled to approach conventional banks and seek conventional borrowing. Given this background, we were able to proactively identify a precise solution in the form of Salam, to highlight that we were able to identify Salam - as an Islamic solution to provide cash as an advance purchase price for certain described commodity to our customers in a Sharia compliant manner. Being a responsible leader in Islamic banking, we made sure that we fulfilled all Sharia requirements before launching the product."

"Our strategy during this year will be to enhance our range of products and expand our retail reach to provide our customers with a compelling value proposition," added Dr. Chilwan. "The launch of Al Islami Salam Finance reflects the bank's 2010 retail banking growth strategy, providing further evidence of DIB's continued commitment to providing attractive financial solutions to different customer segments."