By Ron Chen, Correspondent ASEAN Region
The CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDBG), Ayman Amin Sejiny and Chairman of the Management Board of Turonbank, Chori Sadibakosovich Mirzaev signed an Advisory Services Agreement in relation to launching of an Islamic Window at the Bank.
The intended Islamic Window will create an opportunity for Turonbank to be one of the foremost wholly profit-sharing Islamic Windows, offering Islamic products and services in Uzbekistan. As a result, the Bank will diversify its products, funding sources and increase its profits.
Turonbank is one of the more recent partners of ICD and has been utilizing USD 10 million Line of Financing Facility granted by ICD to finance SMEs in Uzbekistan.
On this occasion Sejiny, commented: “This successful cooperation between our institutions is the next step toward enhancing our recent strategic partnership. Advisory services provided by ICD is a strategic partnership, aiming to support the banking and Islamic finance industries in Uzbekistan. Through this strategic initiative, ICD will assist Turonbank in launching its first dedicated Islamic Window by providing them with a total solution covering development of the Shari’ah compliant products, assistance in accounting, information technology, human resources and legal aspects of the operations; combined with on-site extensive theoretical training, to be supported by on-the-job training within one of the partner Islamic banks of ICD.”
On his part, Mirzaev added: “As you all know, a large part of the population of our country are our citizens who follow Islam. In order to fully meet their needs and provide high quality financial services on the basis of the best practices, JSCB “Turonbank” has been working constantly and introducing new banking services, hence the initiative of Islamic Window will be one of the most attractive financial services in the country. In this process, of course, the development of Islamic finance is one of the most important tasks ahead of us. The reason is that today banking products based on world experience, corresponding to customer requirements, are in demand. Therefore, we are also working in the transformation of a modern banking network in line with Islamic finance. In this regard, I would not be mistaken to say that the “Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector” is one of the most important partners of Turonbank at the international level.
The above mentioned priority tasks were also defined in the decisions of the head of our state “On measures to further increase the effectiveness of cooperation with international and foreign financial institutions” on December 20, 2017, and “On measures to further expand and deepen cooperation with Foundations of the Islamic Development Bank Group and the Arab Coordination Group” on March 5, 2019.
There is no doubt that the launch of the “Islamic Window” in JSCB “Turonbank” will give impetus to further expansion of mutual cooperation and the implementation of joint projects. As a result, our bank will be able to expand the range of services provided to the population, accelerate the development of entrepreneurship and small businesses, and create an instrument that offers retail and corporate products based on Islamic principles. Most importantly, thousands of new jobs will be created.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Ayman Amin Sejiny, Chief Executive Officer of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, and the members of the delegation led by him for their cooperation.”
