PESHAWAR – Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Minister Sirajul Haq has said that Islam is a complete code of life and offers solution to every aspect of human life. “Finance is a vital part of our daily life. We will be more comfortable if spend our lives according to Islamic laws,” he said this while addressing the launching ceremony of The Bank of Khyber (BOK) Raast Islamic Banking.

The ceremony was also attended by the Managing Director BOK Imran Samad, Group Head Islamic Banking Kamran Masood Khan, Group Head Treasury and Investment Masood Wahidna Head Shariah Compliance Muhammad Asad, BOK Shairah Advisor Abdul Samad Khan, Head Business Development Islamic Naveed Qureshi, Head Business Development Lal Nawaz Khan, Head Marketing Syed Ali Nawaz Gilani besides the senior officers of BOK branches in Karachi.

The minister said that it was an accepted fact that Islamic Banking and financial institutions are attracting more attention of the people who are keen to emphasize the joining of human beings common financial needs. He also lauded the BOK management for dedicated efforts for the promotion of Raast Islamic Banking by establishing more Islamic Banking branches across the country.

Earlier, Imran Samad, Managing Director BoK, in his welcome address said that BoK Raast Islamic Banking was started in 2003 and with the Allah Almighty blessings today we are enjoying the confidence of masses by having more than Rs14 billion deposits in our Raast Islamic Banking Branches and we have also awarded financial facilities amounting to more than Rs8 billion and due to general public confidence our Islamic Banking Group assets are more than Rs23 billion.

Imran Samad said that BOK Raast Islamic Banking Branch profit for the period of January-November 2013 is Rs378 million which will increase in branches network in near future. “We are offering all banking facilities to our Raast Islamic Banking Group customers throughout the country successfully and their confidence is increasing with each passing day,” he added.

Imran Samad said that we at the BOK ensured that Shariah standards are met. BOK follows the philosophy to have Shariah Based Solutions as against Shariah Compliant Solutions. He said that we at BOK has been able to divert peoples towards Islamic Banking and changed the attitude and changing their perceptions in general and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular towards Islamic Banking.

*This article was published by The Nation on 21 December 2013. Read the original article here.