Inland bill discounting facility for Huawei Tech: Meezan Bank provides Shariah-compliant solution

KARACHI: Meezan Bank has successfully instituted an Islamic alternate to Inland bill discounting facility for Huawei Technologies Pakistan (Pvt) Limited – a first-of-its-kind transaction in Islamic banking industry, developed as a Shariah-compliant alternate to local bill discounting facility.

The first drawdown under the facility was made against a deferred payment inland Letter of Credit (LC) opened by Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (Ufone) in favour of Huawei. The transaction has been developed by the bank under the supervision and guidance of Dr Muhammad Imran Ashraf Usmani – Vice-Chairman Shariah Board, Meezan Bank, after a series of deliberations and persistent efforts.

On this occasion, Abdullah Ahmed - Group Head, Corporate & Institutional Banking, Meezan Bank stated: “Meezan Bank is pleased to offer yet another milestone solution for the Islamic banking industry i.e., a Shariah-compliant alternative to discounting of long tenor inland bills with provision of variable profit rates. We are hopeful that this solution will serve as a precedent forunique transactions pertaining to trade within telecom industry”.

Ahmed Ali Siddiqui - Group Head, Shariah Compliance, Meezan Bank, stated: “This endeavour of Meezan Bank displaysits capability to develop out-of-the-box, innovative and Shariah-compliant solutions and reinforces its position as the leading Islamic bank of the country. We hope this solution will open a new chapter in facilitating trade among businesses and industries in a Shariah-compliant way and bring more businesses and trade into fold of Islamic banking”.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022