QNB Al Islami, which is fully owned by Qatar National Bank (QNB), has move d into Sudan and opened what it described as its first �full fledged� Islamic branch, in the capital Khartoum, according to a statement posted on the website of the Doha Securities Market.
The branch, which began operating on Sunday 16 November, obtained preliminary authorisation to carry out banking operations in Sudan early this year. The branch is located in Al Amarat Area of Khartoum.
QNB Al Islami Sudan Branch holds a wholesale banking license and aid it will provide a �full range� of banking services and products including investment savings, unrestricted deposit account, corporate finance, project finance and trade finance. The branch will also provide Letters of Credit and Letters of Guarantee.
QNB Al Islami came into being in 2005 and now has around 90 employees, according to Zawya, with eight branches in Qatar. It said that �residents and citizens of Sudan can benefit from the bank's comprehensive banking services such as money transfer to and from Sudan within 24 hours, Current and Call accounts. �
QNB has been pushing out the boat internationally in the past few years. It opened new branches in Yemen, Oman & Kuwait and a Representative Office in Libya in 2007 and around the same time the bank's representative office in Singapore received a new wholesale banking licence making it a fully fledged branch of QNB. QNB recently obtained a license to operate in Mauritania.
As part of the same expansion plan, QNB acquired 33.2 per cent of the shares of the Jordan - based, The Housing Bank for Trade and Finance (HBTF) which also operates in Palestine, Bahrain, Algeria, Syria, UAE, Libya and Iraq. QNB also signed an agreement to establish the Qatar National Bank-Syria jointly with other Syrian private and public sectors institutions with a 49 per cent stake for QNB. The Bank also acquired 23.8 per cent of the shares of Commercial Bank International (CBI) based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), making its first entry into the UAE financial market.
Earlier this year, QNB moved into Tunisia by snapping up 50 per cent of the Tunisian-Qatari bank. QNB has also taken a 30 per cent stake in The Kuwaiti-Qatari Company for Ijara and Investment, which it said will offer Islamic financing services within the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and at the same time it acquired a 20 per cent stake in the Doha-based Al Jazeera Islamic Company.
