QNB joins Kuwaitis to set up Islamic firm

Dubai: Qatar National Bank (QNB) said on Sunday it had agreed with Kuwaiti partners to set up an Islamic financial services firm to tap growing demand for Sharia-compliant financing in the Gulf region.

QNB by market value will own 30 per cent of Kuwaiti-Qatari Co for Leasing and Investment, which will provide Islamic financial services to Gulf countries, the lender said in a statement on the Doha bourse website, without giving details.

QNB did not name its Kuwaiti partners in the 24 million dinar ($88.46 million) firm, which will comply with Islam's ban on purchasing assets that pay interest or earn profits from industries related to alcohol, gambling or pork processing, among others.

QNB's Islamic banking operations -which contributed 148 million riyals to its profit last year - could climb by as much as 80 per cent in 2008, the bank's Chief Financial Officer Ramzi Talat Mari said.

Like other lenders in the world's biggest oil-exporting region, Qatar National has been expanding abroad as competition in its home market intensifies.

The lender said in September it had agreed with partners to set up a bank in Syria and revealed earlier this month that it took over the Qatar government's 50 per cent stake in Tunisian-Qatari Bank.