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BURKINA FASO: Joining the
African Islamic finance fray, Burkina Faso’s Coris Bank International
(CBI) has announced its decision to launch a Shariah compliant window
early next year, paving the way for it to become the pioneering financial
institution in the West African republic to offer Islamic banking
services.
CBI’s announcement comes at a time when Shariah-conscious investors
worldwide are increasingly turning to the African region for potential
investment opportunities amid concrete efforts taken by African states
(more particularly South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya) in anchoring
their position in the Islamic finance universe. With growing investment
flow into the region and favorable demographics, Burkina Faso also seems
to be keen in capitalizing on the opportunities which would expectedly
ring well with its Muslim majority population.
“This project will ease access to funding for project developers, since
the objective is to support the national economy through the practice of
Islamic banking,” said Idrissa Nassa, CEO of CBI.
Established with a focus on the SME sector, CBI will be assisted by the
IDB, which has been an ardent supporter for development projects in
Burkina Faso (it has provided over US$871.5 million in approvals
comprising 118 operations since 1978), through its affiliate, the Islamic
Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD). The ICD will
provide training as well as lend expertise in setting up the Islamic
window infrastructure.
The opening of the Islamic window will not only enable CBI to set
precedent for parallel institutions to begin Shariah compliant operations
in Burkina Faso but also in greater Africa as the bank plans to extend
its Islamic banking operations to other countries in which it has a
presence including Ivory Coast, Mali and Togo.
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