Seminar on interest-free Islamic banking held in Sarajevo, Bosnia

Two-day seminar on Islamic banking in the organization of the Islamic Bank for Development and Bosnia Bank International was held in Sarajevo on 8th and 9th April.


Foreword was provided by the Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina Kemal Kozaric. "We are aware that Islamic banking is unknown in Bosnia although BBI, a bank that operates according to Islamic principles, operates here since 2000. Recently the Faculty of Economics has also started graduate studies on Islamic banking. We are witnesses to the global economic crisis that puts Islamic banking in the foreground, because the banks that are operated by Islamic principles have not accrued losses.


This seminar will help us better acquainted with the methods of Islamic banking. Islamic banking is the new source of wealth for Bosnia and BBI has shown that, although domestic legislation is not adjusted for that type of business."


First day of the seminar speakers were Dr. Salman Syed Ali, economist with IRTI (Islamic Research and Training Institute of the Islamic Development Bank) and Dr. Muhamed Obaidullah, a professor of Islamic finance in the Islamic Research Center King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.


Seminar was, in addition to employees of BBI, attended by representatives from the Banking Agency of FBiH, FBiH Ministry of Finance, the Bank Association of BiH, the Agency for Supervision of Insurance Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Commission for Securities, the Banking Agency of Republika Srpska, the Registry of Securities, the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, and several faculty for the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Presidency, and the press.

More info can be found on the website of Bosna Bank International.