Abdulrazzak M. Elkhraijy

'We started with one branch 12 years ago and today have 72 full Islamic branches in 32 cities in Saudi Arabia, and hope to have 100 by the end of the year,' says Abdulrazzak M. Elkhraijy, Head of Islamic Banking.

'Islamic banking is about satisfying our customer's needs. It provides peace of mind for the customer, and nothing is more valuable than that.

'Of course, the structure of the deal and the risk profile is also different to conventional banking. Islamic banking has a lower risk profile. But most of our products appear very similar on the surface.'

For example, Mr. Elkhraijy points to the Islamic credit card launched in June this year by National Commercial Bank in association with Visa and MasterCard. This was a first for Islamic banking.

'We spent four years studying how to do this, and rejected the idea of charging a high fee to cover operating costs as this would have been unfair on those who did not use it very often. Instead, we have an installments system very similar to Islamic consumer finance.

'Our next innovations will be an Islamic mortgage and Takaful insurance scheme. These are being developed in-house and we see a huge potential demand for both products.

National Commercial Bank has an enviable record for Islamic product innovation and was the first bank to offer Islamic equity and protected capital funds. Today the bank has 18 different Islamic mutual funds available for clients.

'The best way to innovate for an Islamic bank is to bridge the gap in the market between the Islamic and the traditional banking,' explains Mr. Elkhraijy. 'But I would stress that all our products are 100% Shuria compliant as well as being in full compliance with the Central Bank regulations.'

With a high population growth rate and young population, NCB's Head of Islamic Banking is confident of achieving double-digit growth into the future, especially with real estate mortgages added to its portfolio of Islamic banking products.