A Qatar Islamic Bank-led joint venture will become the trendsetter for selling Shariah-based retail banking products in France, the bank’s chief executive officer Salah Mohamed al-Jaidah has said.

For the first time, about 4mn Muslims living in France will be able to choose ‘alternative banking products of their choice’ from numerous outlets of QIB-BPCE joint venture, scheduled to be opened across the European country later this year.

QIB has signed a memorandum of understanding with BPCE, France’s second largest banking group, to establish a joint venture financial institution that will develop and market Shariah-based retail banking products in the European country.

In an interview with Gulf Times in Paris, al-Jaidah said the joint venture (JV) would look at developing and marketing mortgage, vehicle, consumer goods finance, deposits and structured and investment products.

“Currently, there are no such retail products available in the French market. Shariah-products that are available here target just the corporates,” al-Jaidah said.

 “We will have the joint venture up and running before the year-end. France has committed itself to development of Islamic financing.The French commerce minister said this morning that Islamic banking will be one of the key components of the growing bilateral relationship between Qatar and France. We are delighted to be involved in that”, al-Jaidah added.

He said if the JV ‘emerged successful’ such a model would be replicated elsewhere in Europe.“We have big plans for France and the rest of Europe. Already we have incorporated a bank in London – European Finance House, which has been set up under the FSA regulations.”It is progressively developing products to be distributed to financial institutions. EFH will service corporates, financial institutions and clients on the wholesale side. France is part of our European strategy,” al-Jaidah said. Islamic finance has experienced a “strong and sustained growth” in the last decade, he said.

BPCE and QIB say they believed they could take advantage of working together in this field by pooling their respective experiences and expertise.

BPCE became fully operational in August 2009 after a merger between Banque Fédérale des Banques Populaires (BFBP) and the Caisse Nationale des Caisses D’Epagne (CNCE).

It has approximately 37mn customers, an extensive network of 8,200 branches throughout France and a corporate and investment banking affiliate, Natixis. BPCE is a key player in the French banking and finance industry and accounts for 22% of total deposits held by French banks, and serves a diverse range of customers including individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large corporations.

Al-Jaidah said France could easily become the ‘Islamic banking hub’ in Europe, if the country seized opportunities by enacting the required regulations in time.

“Britain has gone a long way in developing an Islamic banking market. France can also do that,” al-Jaidah added.

Source: http://www.gulf-times.com