Power Arabs in Islamic finance revealed

By Talal Malik

Billionaire businessman Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel and Noor Islamic Bank CEO Hussain Al Qemzi have been revealed as the World's Most Powerful Arabs in Islamic Finance, according to ArabianBusiness.com's Power 100 list for this year.

Kamel, who is the chairman of the General Council of Islamic Banks, came in at number 47 of the Power 100 list, the most comprehensive compilation of the world's most influential Arabs, whilst al-Qemzi, chief executive of Dubai's newest Islamic bank, came in as a new entry at number 93.

Kamel, who heads up the world's largest Islamic banking group AlBaraka Banking Group, last week said that a new Islamic bank with a total market cap of $321 billion would be launched by the fourth quarter of 2008, reported Arab News.

The new bank's initial capital would $11 billion, with $110 billion raised from funds and almost twice that from Islamic bonds (sukuks), Kamel said at ABG's annual general assembly. The Saudi businessman has also been promoting the creation of an Islamic stock exchange in Bahrain.

Kamel, who dropped 31 places from number 16 overall in the Power 100 , also holds the position of the President of the Islamic Chamber of commerce and Industry, an organ of the pan-Islamic governmental body, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Hussain Al-Qemzi, from Dubai-based Noor Islamic Bank, enters the Power 100 list this year for the first time at number 93 - making him the powerful Arab executive in the Islamic finance sector.

Noor Islamic Bank began operations on January 6 this year, with US$861 million of capital and is half-owned by the Dubai Government.

Two days later, Al Qemzi said he planned to create the world's largest Islamic bank within five years, spending as much as as $1 billion on individual acquisitions in countries as far apart as Indonesia, Egypt and Britain.

"Acquisitions will be the main way because there is no time to grow organically," Qemzi said at the time, about Noor's ambitions.

Published on Sunday in Arabian Business and on ArabianBusiness.com, this year's list includes influential Arabs from the whole gambit of fields including sport, finance, medicine, entertainment, science and technology and real estate.