Islamic Banks Find Alternative To KLIBOR

Islamic banks have recently achieved a major milestone towards development of an interbank market for Islamic banks.

Meezan Bank recently hosted a meeting of Shariah advisors and product development experts of all full-fledged Islamic banks to decide upon the mechanism for inter-bank placement amongst Islamic banks and to move towards the development of an Islamic inter-bank market.

After careful deliberation, standardized agreements – namely Interbank Musharaka and Interbank Wakala Agreements – were finalized and it was agreed that henceforth only these standard contracts would be used by the Islamic banking industry.

This achievement is an important milestone towards development of inter-bank market for Islamic banks and will pave the way for the long awaited Islamic benchmark rate as an alternative to KLIBOR. The meeting was attended by Shariah advisors / product development heads of Meezan Bank, Bank Islami, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates Global Islamic Bank and First Dawood Islamic Bank.