Meezan Bank’s Shariah Supervisory Board Approves Guidelines for Conversion of a Conventional Bank into an Islamic Bank

April 30th, 2014

The 21st meeting of the Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB) of Meezan Bank was held at the Darul Uloom Korangi, Karachi. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Justice (R) Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani. Sheikh Essam M. Ishaq, who specially came from Bahrain for this meeting and Dr. Muhammad Imran Usmani, Shariah Advisor of the Bank and member of the SSB were also present in the meeting. The senior management of Meezan Bank including Mr. Irfan Siddiqui – President   & CEO, & Mr. Ariful Islam – Deputy CEO, Mr. Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, Head of Product Development along with other team members attended the meeting.

The Shariah Supervisory Board approved general guidelines for conversion of a conventional bank’s operations into Shariah-compliant operations. The SSB guided the management about the important steps of the conversion process. Various detailed guidelines were given on the asset and liability sides of conventional banks’ balance sheet. The Shariah Supervisory Board also approved three innovative product structures with the use of Sukuk and mutual funds. These products are tailor-made for conversion of conventional banking operations into Shariah-compliant operations.

The Board showed overall satisfaction on the level of Shariah-compliance of business and transactions of Meezan Bank. The Board praised the efforts and seriousness of the Bank’s management in ensuring Shariah-compliance and commented that Meezan Bank is considered as a role model among Islamic banks in the world.