Qatar International Islamic Bank gets out of Syria

Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) has announced it is resigning its seat on the Board of Directors of Syria International Islamic Bank (SIIB) and withdrawing its representative from the Board.

The move follows the decision taken by the US Department of the Treasury to impose sanctions against SIIB. QIIB confirmed that it would also take the necessary steps to ensure that Treasury's sanctions against SIIB would not be evaded by persons dealing with QIIB.

QIIB's decision to resign its seat on SIIB's Board coincides with the decisions by two other Qatari companies to also resign their Board seats and withdraw their Board representatives.The Qatar-based directors acted in a non-executive capacity at SIIB and were not involved in day-to-day operations. Since the commencement of the crisis in Syria, the Qatar-based directors have faced challenges in discharging their duties in the manner that they would wish to. In view of the decision of Treasury to impose sanctions on SIIB, the Qatari directors determined that they can no longer serve as directors of SIIB.

Dr. Yousef Ahmed Al Naama, who had served as QIIB's representative on the Board of SIIB, said, "In light of the decision taken to impose sanctions on Syria International Islamic Bank, I and my fellow Qatar-based, non-executive directors no longer felt we were in a position to continue our roles as directors. Qatar International Islamic Bank takes the issue of sanctions imposed by the international community seriously. We were unaware of the actions taken by SIIB that led to the decision to impose sanctions and we cannot condone any such activity by continuing in our roles as directors."