Palestine Islamic Bank opens its 31st Branch in Qalqilya
Palestine Islamic Bank under the auspices of the Palestinian Monetary Authority opened its new branch in Qalqilya making it the second branch to open within a week after the opening of the previous branch at Al-Quds Open University in Nablus thereby raising the number of its offices and branches throughout the country to 31 fulfilling the bank’s strategy to extend its geographical reach and financial inclusion.
In attendance at the ribbon cutting was Mr. Bayan Qasem; Director General of Palestine Islamic Bank, the representative of the Governor of the Palestinian Monetary Authority Mr. Ali Faroun, the Governor of Qalqilya Mr. Rafi Rawajba and Mr. Omar Hashim, Director of the Chamber of Commerce in Qalqilya, in the presence of a number of persons from local institutions.
At the beginning of his speech Mr. Qasem’s expressed his solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike, who have been fighting a battle to hold steady in their request for their basic humanitarian needs as they are represent the entire nation, stressing that the opening ceremony is taking place at a minimal cost in solidarity as well as an expression of steadfastness and support outside the camp walls signaling our support, perseverance and determination.
Qasem also added that strategic vision of the bank for the coming years, relies on expanding access to Shariah compliant services under the oversight of the bank’s Sharia Compliance to all segments of Palestinian society, underscoring that the Bank's message is to serve the nation in accordance with the bank’s ethics and in line with the teachings of the Islamic religion and as required by the general interest of the nation, in support of a strong national economy.
Similarly, the Governor General Rafi Rawajba congratulated Palestine Islamic Bank on the opening of its 31st branch in Qalqilya, noting the central role of banking institutions in the process of economic development, and in contributing to securing the necessary funding for the creation and localization of new investment projects, solving the problem of unemployment, and building a genuine Palestinian economy capable of growth and development. He also highlighted that the Palestinian issue is a core issue and without the creation of a Palestinian State there will be no peace and stability in the region pointing to the suffering of the prisoners inside Israeli jails and their continued fight to remain resilient in the face of hunger and incarceration assuring the attendees that the prisoners would inevitably triumph while calling for broader public support of the prisoners.
Also speaking at the opening ceremony, Director of the Department of Market Conduct at the Monetary Authority, Mr. Faroun reiterated the importance of a adopting a mechanism for expanding access and branch expansion to all regions to provide access to all sources of funding & banking services for all community segments in line with the strategy of the Monetary Authority to achieve financial inclusion in Palestine by increasing the number of branches and offices of the banking sector to with a branch for every 10000 people where the PMA aims with this policy is to provide banking services for all groups of society and create new job opportunities to reduce poverty and unemployment rates.
Mr. Faroun also hailed the efforts of the Palestine Islamic Bank and its commitment to the continued development of the bank’s operations highlighting that the network has now reached 31 branches & offices out of a total of 315 various banking branches operating in Palestine. He also pointed out that the bank’s financial indicators show a growth in net assets of $902 million in comparison to the bank’s performance last year with about $1.8 billion demonstrating the bank’s accelerated rate of growth & development and & its commitment to expanding access of citizens to its banking services and thereby calling on members of the Islamic banking community to continue fortifying the share of Islamic banking within the banking industry citing that the Islamic banking industry share of the market amounted to 12% of the assets of the banking sector in Palestine.