LOLC Al-Falaah honoured for regional excellence in Islamic Finance

LOLC Al-Falaah was honoured with four prestigious awards at the Islamic Finance Forum for South Asia (IFFSA) for its achievements and exceptional performance in expanding the frontiers of Alternate Finance in the domestic and global financial arena. 

The entity was bestowed with; a Gold award for Islamic leasing company of the year, a Silver award for Islamic Window/unit of the year, two bronze awards for Islamic Finance Entity of the year and for Islamic Finance Product of the year, at the grand awarding ceremony held at Shangri-La, Colombo. 

The Islamic Finance Forum for South Asia (IFFSA) began in 2015, to recognise the Islamic Banking and Finance industry practitioners and to develop its network across the South Asian region. IFFSA motivates players within the region that are specifically active from Pakistan, Maldives and Bangladesh to step up their game when competing for global awards.

LOLC Finance PLC Head of Alternative Financial Services Shiraz Refai said: “It is our distinct honour to be the recipient of these awards over the years. The Islamic financial industry has experienced a pace of growth and development that has been unprecedented over this recent decade. This honour however, represents a recognition to the entire LOLC group and for all those who have travelled on this remarkable journey with us as employees, partners, customers and well-wishers. As we continue this journey, we now need to venture into new frontiers towards bringing greater value to the economy, to society and to the environment.” 

“In recent years, it has also been dynamic and evolving to meet the rapidly changing requirements of the modern economy, yet, these repetitive honours demonstrates the customers’ confidence in our products and services, also indicating the well-orchestrated team effort behind these offerings,” Refai added. 

The jury of IFFSA has executed a very stringent and rigorous selection process before arriving at the front-runners. The final winners were chosen based on the overall company’s 2021/22 audited financial performance, the values and achievements of each nominee throughout the pertaining year. 

LOLC Finance PLC Chief Manager, Alternative Financial Services Ilsam Awfer said: “Our creative efforts have been translated into an unmatched customer-centric experience for our clients and solid financial results for the parent company. At LOLC Al-Falaah, we are driven by a devoted pursuit of excellence, and innovation in our product advances and service offerings. We are penetrating the non-banking segment through new product development. Over the last financial year LOLC –Al Falaah has managed to record portfolio growth, deposit growth and recorded an industry low NPL, setting an example to all who practise this product in the industry.” 

LOLC Al-Falaah is considered as the ‘trend-setter’ in the Islamic Finance industry and also being benchmarked by many of the new entrants since 2007. Latest products such as ‘Wadi’ah’, which is an alternate option for conventional pawning and ‘Wakalah Speed Draft’ a working capital finance with a flexible re-payment, have allowed more customers to enter into the alternate finance space from conventional counterparts.