CLC-Islamic Finance wins gold at 6th SLIBFI Awards Night

The Islamic Business Division (IBD) of Commercial Leasing & Finance Plc (CLC), the newest addition to the Islamic Banking and Finance industry has won the gold award for the ‘Emerging Islamic Finance Entity of the Year 2016’. 

This award was bestowed upon CLC’s Islamic Banking division, at the 6th Sri Lankan Islamic Banking and Finance Industry Awards (SLIBFI) 2016, which was held in Colombo recently. 

CLC-Islamic Finance successfully completed its first year of operation in August 2016 with a remarkable financial performance. 

In-House Shari’ah Advisor of CLC-Islamic Finance, Ash-Shaikh Zaid Nooramith, was awarded the gold award for ‘Rising Islamic Finance Personality of the Year 2016’, the first scholar to receive such recognition.   

Commercial Leasing and Finance Plc (CLC) commenced Islamic Finance in August 2015 to offer a complete Shari’ah compliant product range to its customers. 

IBD formed a Shari’ah Supervisory Board with three locally and internationally recognised scholars namely Ash-Shaikh Fazil Farook (Chairman), Ash-Shaikh Murshid Mulaffar (member) and Ash-Shaikh/Mufthi Shafique Jakhura (member) to ensure compliancy in each transaction. 

Further, the business unit marked its segregation clearly to make the operation fully Shari’ah compliant and acceptable. 

IBD was created with a fully-fledged product range to serve all customer requirements such as Profit Sharing Investments & Saving Accounts (Mudharabah), Term Investments (Wakala-Investments), Leasing (Ijarah), Trade Finance (Murabaha), Property and Working Capital Finance (D. Musharakah) and Business & Working Capital Finance (Wakala-Lending).

Today, CLC-IBD has become a dynamic player in the Islamic Banking and Finance industry, offering a complete range of alternate finance through more than 60 CLC branches island-wide with three dedicated Islamic Finance Service Centers in the Eastern Province. 

Within a short span of time, CLC-IBD was able to gain the trust and recognition of customers and the Islamic Banking and Finance Industry in Sri Lanka. CLC-IBD was able to reach its target customer base through a complete product range, customer-first approach. Furthermore, all CLC staff members were appropriately trained to cater to the discerning requirements of customers seeking a superior level of alternate finance solutions. 

Islamic Business Division Assistant Manager Ilsam Awfer stated: “We are indeed delighted to be recognised as the Emerging Islamic Finance Entity in Sri Lanka for the Year 2016. CLC introduced CLC-Islamic Finance as a strong player to the industry in 2015 and within a short span the entity added a commendable contribution to CLC and to the Sri Lankan Islamic Banking and Finance industry at large. Currently, we distribute the best return for Mudharabah Investors among Islamic banks and finance institutions and offer very competitive pricing for other asset products in our portfolio. We have completed another successful financial year as at 31 March 2017 and we hope to see this momentum continue.”  

With the commencement of the new financial year, CLC-IBD is anticipating substantial growth whilst adding more products to its portfolio, improving customer service, expanding reach, increasing the staff force, carrying out extensive staff training programs and enhancing public awareness on Islamic Finance.