PESHAWAR: The Bank of Khyber (BoK) established the Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance (CEIF) at the Institute of Management Sciences (IM-Sciences), Peshawar, on Friday, said an official statement.

BoK managing director Shamsul Qayum inaugurated the centre at a ceremony which was also attended by the institute director Dr Mohammad Mohsin Khan, bankers, faculty members and officials.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Qayum said that the bank would play its due role in promotion of Islamic financial education, research and training to further create human resource in this sector.

He said that quality human resource played an important role in the development of socioeconomic activities and achieving desired goals. He said that the BoK was promoting Islamic banking in KP in particular and in the country in general through its network of branches.

He said with the establishment of the centre more professionals in the field of Islamic banking and economics would be available not only to BoK, but also to the corporate sectors.

He said that presently over 50 per cent of the BoK branches had been converted into Raast Islamic Banking branches. The BoK’s Raast Islamic Banking Group total deposits as of Sept 2015 was over Rs23 billion while advances were more than Rs10 billion showing growth since 2003 when the bank started Islamic banking, said the statement.

It said that BoK would make special internship programmes for IM-Sciences students. It said that that the bank and CEIF-IM Sciences could collaborate in content development, expertise exchange and joint events.

Earlier, Dr Khan said that this centre had been established through the financial innovation challenged fund implemented by the State Bank of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2015