Thursday 15 March 2018

Noor Bank becomes FCI associate member

Noor Bank, a shari’ah-compliant bank in the UAE, is the first Islamic bank to have successfully obtained associate membership of FCI, a global representative of the factoring* and receivables finance industry.

The membership will enable Noor Bank to leverage the FCI network in more than 90 countries to offer export and import factoring facilities to clients in the UAE.

As an associate member, Noor Bank will have instant access to standardised procedures using a state-of-the-art communications system and arbitration services. This is in addition to the broad range of educational products, including e-learning, regional seminars and tailormade training that will be made available. Noor Bank will also receive full access to statistics, studies, presentations and other useful information from the private library of the FCI website.

FCI formed a working committee comprising Noor Bank, International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation and Dar Al Tawreeq to develop shari’ah-compliant documents enabling global Islamic finance institutions to apply for membership.

Speaking of the affiliation to FCI, Ehsaan Ahmed, Head of Global Transaction Services & Corporate Strategy, Noor Bank, said: “We are pleased to have received this membership, which demonstrates our continued emphasis on offering new and improved services to our customers. As a leading shari’ah-compliant bank, we are equally proud of being part of the working committee that crafted the standard framework in order to facilitate Islamic banks in the UAE to apply for membership. As an associate member of FCI, we look forward to networking with factoring industry professionals across the world at our regular meetings.”

Peter Mulroy, Secretary General, FCI, said: “We are very happy to have Noor Bank joining FCI as associate member. After their active participation in the working group to adapt the FCI GRIF to International Islamic Factoring, it shows the development of factoring in the Middle East. With this membership, I can sense the winds of change blowing in the MEA region, that had in 2016 less than 0.3% of global factoring volume.”

Established in 1968, FCI is an umbrella organisation for independent factoring companies around the world. With more than 400 member companies worldwide, FCI offers a unique network for cooperation in cross-border factoring.

*Factoring refers to the sale of debts or invoices to a third party, called a factor.  The factor buys the debt or invoice at a discount, thus earning some profit on the recovery of the amount. The seller typically gets a downpayment on the value of the debt or invoice, and the remainder of the payment when the funds are paid.