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Press Release
Al Baraka Banking Group Obtain a License to Establish a New Bank in Morocco
3 January 2017
The Bahrain based leading Islamic banking group, Al Baraka Banking Group B.S.C
(ABG) announced that it obtained the approval of the Bank Al Maghrib (the central
bank of Morocco) to establish a new bank in Morocco. Thus, the Group completed its
presence in all the countries of the Maghreb, where it now owns banking subsidiaries
in in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco, as well as the African continent in Egypt,
Sudan and South Africa. The Group has already obtained the approval of the Central
Bank of Bahrain to establish this bank
The new bank will carry the name of Al Baraka Bank Morocco, in partnership with the
Moroccan Bank for Foreign Commerce of Africa (BMCE Bank), which is one of the
oldest and largest private Moroccan banks, which was founded in 1959 and located in
22 countries. The new bank will be under the management of Al Baraka Banking
Group and will operate within its network of subsidiary banking units, which are
currently located in 15 countries and in turn own more than 700 branches.
On this occasion, HE Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, Chairman of Al Baraka Banking
Group said, "We are very pleased to complete the regulatory approvals to establish Al
Baraka Bank Morocco after obtaining the license from the central bank of Morocco. By
this we accomplished an important strategic step in the implementation of our future
program to cover all major countries in the Maghreb by our presence and banking
services, and at the same time to expand in the African continent. We intend to take
further initiatives in the future towards achieving this goal. "
For his part, Mr. Adnan Ahmed Yousif, Member of the Board and President and Chief
Executive of Al Baraka Banking Group said that entering the Moroccan market is a
very important achievement, which is considered one of the major markets in the
Maghreb and Africa, and will achieve greater diversity in building assets portfolios
and revenue sources for the Group, especially that we intend to employ our deeprooted and unique Islamic banking expertise, the extensive banking network of our
units and our strong technical, human and financial resources to the success of our
presence there. In addition, our banking partnership with one of the oldest and
largest Moroccan banks is a high added value for the new bank.
Al Baraka Banking Group (B.S.C) is licensed as an Islamic wholesale bank by the
Central Bank of Bahrain, listed on Bahrain Bourse and Nasdaq Dubai stock
exchanges. It is a leading international Islamic banking group providing its unique
services in countries with a population totaling around one billion. It is jointly rated
BBB+ (long term) / A3 (short term) on the international scale and A+ (bh) (long term)
/ A2 (bh) (short term) on the national by Islamic International Rating Agency &
Dagong Global Credit Rating Company Limited, and by Standard & Poor's at BB+ (long
term) / B (short term).
Al Baraka offers retail, corporate, treasury and investment banking services, strictly
in accordance with the principles of the Islamic Shari'a. The authorized capital of Al
Baraka is US$ 1.5 billion, while total equity is at about US$ 2.2 billion. The Group has
a wide geographical presence in the form of subsidiary banking units and
representative offices in fifteen countries, which in turn provide their services
through over 700 branches. Al Baraka currently has a strong presence in Turkey,
Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Bahrain, Pakistan, South Africa, Lebanon,
Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, including two representative offices in Indonesia and
Libya.