Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the world’s first Islamic Bank Bank has formally began its operations in Kenya a month after being granted license by the Central Bank of Kenya.
The bank has began with an initial network of three branches; Goodman Branch in Westlands Nairobi, Upper Hill branch in Nairobi and Kilindini Branch in Mombasa. The Upper Hill Branch at the junction of Bunyala and Lower Hill Road in Nairobi will serve as its Headquarters.
DIB, which is UAE’s largest islamic lender was in April granted license by the Central Bank of Kenya to exclusively offer Shariah compliant banking services in the country through its wholly owned Kenyan subsidiary, DIB Kenya Ltd.
The bank in a statement said it will focus on the East African region while connecting the large Kenyan diaspora residing in UAE to the home country.
The Group CEO of DIB Dr. Adnan Chilwan said, “Kenya is critical to DIB’s growth plans in Africa. Apart from the potential that the local economy offers, the Kenyan franchise will serve as a stepping stone for us to further expand and entrench ourselves in the east African belt.”
He added, “Dubai Islamic Bank has been following an expansionary agenda in both its home market of UAE and the international operations in Asia and Africa. Now, we are focusing on Indonesia and Kenya to pursue a similar agenda supporting the bank’s overall objective to mirror Far East and Asia, to Middle East and the East African region.”
DIB becomes the third Shariah compliant bank in Kenya after First Community Bank (FCB) and Gulf African Bank (GAB), who are the only other licensed Shariah complaint banks in the country.
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