Emirates Islamic Bank, participated in the second Islamic Retail Banking Conference that took place recently At the Grand Hyatt Dubai. The conference follows in the footsteps of the highly successful inaugural conference held in March last year, which gave a perfect platform for Islamic banking institutions to share innovative ideas that have sprouted from their common beliefs.
The conference was inaugurated by the Minister of State for Finance and Industry Dr. Mohammed Khalfan Bin Khirbash. Mr. Khairil Anuar Mohd Noor, head of marketing at Emirates Islamic Bank presented the Bank’s innovative Islamic credit card program that gives customers the chance to save their credit card cost by up to 70% compared to other traditional credit cards while maintaining the revered codes of Islamic banking.
He went into the details of these unique card offerings,explaining the benefits of the Blue, Gold and Platinum credit cards. He highlighted their ‘riba free’ characteristics, where no interests on the outstanding balance and no hidden
charges are to be charged to the cardholders. The card allows the cardholders to pay a minimum monthly repayment of 10% of the outstanding balance. Only annual fees are charged on the card which are payable on quarterly basis.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Khairil Anuar said “ the demand for Shari’a compliant credit cards is growing at a very fast rate. Its numerous features and advantages, especially its interest-free aspects, have proven to be very popular and has even instigated a rush of non-Muslim applicants for the product”.
The conference proved to be an eye-opener in many ways and proved that Islamic retail banking is all set to break into the big league while still successfully maintaining its much-admired principles.
