A meeting of the first Sharia Supervisory Board of National Bank of Oman (NBO) was held at the head office on Saturday, June 30.

Ahmed al Musalmi, Deputy CEO and members of the NBO senior management team attended the meeting.

The high-level meeting was also attended by Shaikh Dr Mohammed bin Ali Elgari, Professor of Islamic Economics at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Shaikh Dr Mohammed Daud Bakar from Malaysia and Omani Sharia scholar, Shaikh Khalfan bin Mohammed al Esry.

On the agenda of the inaugural meeting, Shaikh Dr Mohammed bin Ali Elgari was appointed as the Chairman of the Sharia Supervisory Board. During the meeting the distinguished Sharia Supervisory Board has approved the proposed policies and procedures pertaining to the Islamic banking window in addition to approving wide range of products covering all business segments.

The Sharia Supervisory Board also approved the appointment of the new Head of Sharia Audit and Compliance department for the Islamic Banking Window. At the end the Chairman of the Sharia board commented very positively on the steps taken by National Bank of Oman to establish its window and ensure that there will be full segregation between the Islamic banking window and NBO, stating that it is the most professionally driven set up of Islamic Banking windows, seen during his career.

At the conclusion of the board meeting, the NBO Deputy CEO Ahmed al Musalmi was very pleased with the decisions made by the board, ‘This board meeting was a landmark event for us as we draw closer to launching our Sharia compliant banking in Oman. The distinguished board members were in full agreement on all the products, policies and procedures and we look forward to seeing this being put into place.’ he was quoted as saying after the board meeting.

The development of the Islamic banking products and services was aligned to the highest brand values of faith, honesty and clarity. Faith will be reflected in the strong belief in the Islamic faith. Honesty will be embraced through all aspects of the business and clarity will be maintained through the daily choices grounded in an authentic sense of purpose.

The bank promises to adhere rigorously to Sharia principles and to the highest standards of professional conduct, corporate governance and ethics. NBO plans to contribute significantly to the industry by providing banking services to ‘customers who request Sharia-compatible products and services’, after obtaining approval from CBO.