Agreement to standardize FX and interbank Musharakah agreements amongst Banks at the Meezan Bank forum of Shariah scholars

April 22nd, 2013

Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s first and largest Islamic bank, took the initiative of inviting senior Shariah scholars to a meeting to discuss the challenges in Islamic Treasury Operations. The meeting was held on 18th April 2013 at Meezan House, Meezan Bank’s Head Office, and was attended by several prominent Shariah scholars including Dr. Muhammad Imran Ashraf Usmani (Meezan Bank), Mufti Irshad Ahmed Ijaz (Bank Islami), Mufti Khalil Aazmi (Bank Alfalah), Mufti Zahid Siraj (Burj Bank), Mufti Najeeb Khan, Mufti Hasaan Kaleem,  Mufti Ebrahim Essaa and Mufti Bilal Qazi (Meezan Bank) along with Product Development and Treasury professionals of all major Islamic banks and Islamic banking windows of conventional banks.

The participants held detailed discussion over recent issues in FX Trading and interbank products and agreed to standardize the FX and interbank Musharakah agreements amongst Islamic banks and Islamic banking windows. This move will facilitate availability of Shariah-compliant venues for deployment of excess liquidity of Islamic banks.

Mr. Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, Meezan Bank’s Head of Product Development & Shariah Compliance, said “This forum brings together extensive knowledge and experience of the industry experts on a single platform and has the potential to play a crucial role in addressing the challenges of the industry.”

Meezan Bank is Pakistan eighth largest bank in terms of branch network and has been consistently recognized as the best Islamic bank in Pakistan by numerous local and international institutions over the past several years.

agreement fxinter 2013