The Suez Canal Bank targets to launch a number of sharia-compliant products such as sukuk (Islamic bonds) during 2012, to be in line with its strategy which aims at increasing the volume of Islamic banking transactions, sources said. The bank, which owns one the oldest Islamic banking units in Egypt, plans to offer a number of sharia-compliant savings instruments for terms of 3 and 5 years with the aim of increasing the volume of Islamic banking transactions to EGP one billion in the current fiscal year, compared to EGP 750 million at the end of last September. Sources noted that the bank may further expand in inaugurating more Islamic banking branches, if a coherent legal framework is set to organize Islamic financial transactions. The Suez Canal Bank failed in achieving profit in Q1 of this year, but achieved profit of EGP 20.7 million in the corresponding period in 2011. The bank's portfolio of loans and credit facilities declined by EGP 442 million, registering EGP 4.9 billion, compared to EGP 5.4 billion, with a retreat of 7.7%.
