HSBC has launched the first of a range of personal financial services in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which are compliant with Islamic Shariah law. It is the first international bank in the UAE to offer such services.
The first of the new services are HSBC Amanah Current Account and HSBC Amanah Personal Finance. The first offering has similar features to a conventional bank account, except to comply with Shariah; it has no overdraft, debit or credit interest. Money paid will be administered in accordance with the Shariah and will not be used for interest generation.
HSBC Amanah Personal Finance is a Shariah compliant loan financing product, which avoids the charging of interest and which is linked to the metals market trades. The loan product allows customers to avail cash for permissible use.
HSBC buys metals, mainly copper, from international brokers and sells them to the customer at a pre-agreed fixed price payable over an agreed term. The customer appoints the bank as an agent to sell the metals in the market to a third party and the proceeds are then credited to the customer’s account. At no stage is the customer paying interest; the monthly installments are simply the break down of deferred metal price in equally monthly payments.
Developed by HSBC Amanah Finance the HSBC Group’s Islamic Finance division - the products have been approved by HSBC’s independent Shariah Supervisory Committee comprising leading scholars in Islamic Finance. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
