Islamic Bank launches operations in Kazakhastan
Abu Dhabi’s government-owned Al Hilal Bank will set up an Islamic bank in Kazakhstan to tap into the central Asian state’s majority Muslim population, it said on Tuesday.
Al Hilal will headquarter the new bank in the central Asian state’s largest city Almaty, opening in the second half of 2009 with an initial capital of 100 million dirhams ($27 million), Chairman Ahmed Ateeq al-Mazrouei told Reuters.
"It will be (one of) the first Islamic bank in Kazakhstan, which has a majority Muslim population, and we want to replicate the Abu Dhabi model there," he said.
