KARACHI, May 22: Another bank has been awarded licence for Islamic banking which brings the total of such banks to six in the country. The State Bank of Pakistan on Monday announced that it had issued the Islamic banking licence to First Dawood Islamic Bank Limited.

The new Islamic bank has been jointly sponsored by the First Dawood Group, Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad, Unicorn Investment Bank (Bahrain) and Islamic Corporation for development of the private sector (ICD – an arm of Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah).

Along with the tremendous growth in traditional banking during the last couple of years, the Islamic banking has also strengthened its roots and increased its share in the market.

The market share of the Islamic banks has now reached 2.2 per cent of the total banking industry in the country. Total Assets of Islamic banking institutions have grown to Rs79 billion.

Meezan Bank Limited, Al Baraka Islamic Bank BSC EC, Bank Islami Pakistan Limited, Emirates Global Islamic Bank Limited and Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan Limited are the other five banks having Islamic banking licence. Of these, four banks Meezan Bank Limited, Al Baraka Islamic Bank BSC EC, Bank Islami Pakistan Limited and Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan Ltd. are currently operating in Pakistan with 44 branches.

In addition to these full-fledged Islamic banks, 39 branches of eleven conventional banks are also providing exclusive Islamic banking service to their customers. Islamic banking is now available in sixteen cities of all the four provinces of the country.