FARAZ HAMEED – HEAD OF AL SALAMAH ISLAMIC FINANCE UNIT OF LB FINANCE

3^rd July 2010

A new star was born in the Sri Lanka’s Islamic Finance industry with the launch of Al-Salamah Islamic Finance Unit of LB Finance PLC. LB Finance that is being regulated by Central Bank of Sri Lanka has been serving the Sri Lankan Finance industry for last decades. While many Financials institutions in Sri Lanka suffered heavily and some have even collapsed, LB finance has been steadily moving on the right direction. Learning lessons from the development of growing global Islamic Finance industry that has successfully faced the recent global financial crisis, LB Finance added Islamic Finance to its portfolio. The Managing Director of the company Mr. Sumith Adihetty is confident that Al Salamah Islamic Finance unit will play a key role in rebuilding the financial sector after the economic downturn of the last years as well as the war.

The Al-Salamah Islamic Finance unit will be headed by Mr. Faraz, who has been in the convention Banking sector and Islamic Finance sector for a considerable period has assumed duties as the Head of the Islamic Finance Unit. He has also participated in several Islamic Finance conferences locally and overseas and has made presentations at various forums. He is supported by a team of experienced staff.

Initially they will be offering four main products namely; Mudaraba Investment Accounts, Murabaha Trade Financing, Ijarah Leasing and Ar Rahnu Gold Loans. The Shari ‘a board is headed by Ash Sheikh Ahamed who has been graduated in the field of Islamic Studies in South Africa.

The main strength LB has is its reach. They have over 70 Branches/Pawning centers covering the most parts of the Island including east and covering most of the Key towns and everything augurs very well for them and for the industry as a whole.