Three foreign investors eyeing stake in Al-Amanah bank

Three foreign investors are interested in possibly securing a 40 percent stake in the Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines (Al Amanah), the lender’s chairman and chief executive said. The bank, which is wholly-owned by state-run Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), will increase its capital to P5 billion in the next five years from P1 billion, its chairman and chief executive Armando O. Samia said. Besides recapitalization, the lender intends to re-brand itself to give it a new image, Samia said. The bank formed by former president Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1973 intends to post a turnaround next year. “If foreign investors come soon, we expect a shorter time to turn it around. There are a lot of feelers wanting to come in," he said. Samia is one of the DBP officers seconded to Al Amanah, which has currently 75 employees. A core group underwent training in Malaysia on Islamic banking. Samia said the bank would initially undertake conventional banking since it does not have the capabilities yet of doing real Islamic banking. Regulators Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp., Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue are now sending people to Malaysia for Shariah banking. Shariah banking prohibits fees from the renting of money. “In the next one or two years, we will be holding hands, formulating regulations to work on Shariah banking," Samia said. Al-Amanah was re-established to promote and accelerate socio-economic development of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. The bank has nine branches in Iligan, General Santos, Zamboanga, Marawi City, Jolo, Davao, Cotabato, Cagayan de Oro, and Makati. – GMANews.TV