Alinma Bank launches full operations

07/03/2011 00:00 AST

On behalf of Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman, Deputy Gov. Prince Sattam was the guest-of-honor at the formal opening ceremony of Alinma Bank in Riyadh on Sunday. The event marked the official launch of the bank’s full operations at its branches across the Kingdom.

Prince Sattam ceremonially announced the commencement of all of Alinma’s banking services. Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Gov. Muhammad Al-Jasser was also present at the function held at the Al-Anoud Novotel Hotel.

As part of the ceremony, a special display was illuminated, showing the locations of 40 currently operational Alinma branches and 225 ATMs in all parts of the Kingdom.

Prince Sattam delivered a brief speech thanking the chairman, members of the board of directors, the CEO and all Alinma staff for their achievements.

In his welcome address, Abdulmohsen Al-Fares, managing director and chief executive officer of Alinma Bank, thanked Prince Salman for his kind patronage and Prince Sattam for his valued presence. “Through its initial phases of operation, Alinma has achieved many successes due to the concerted efforts of my colleagues on the board of directors, the executive management and the bank’s employees,” Al-Fares said.

“We have worked with upbeat over the future of the bank. These efforts have yielded remarkable growth in the major activities of the bank during 2010. This was evident in the rapid increase in the number of partners, volume of deposits, financing portfolios, total assets, products and services, reach of the bank’s ATM and branch networks and e-channel services.”

At the close of Al-Fares’ speech, there was a screening of a short documentary film chronicling the bank’s development since its inception in 2006.

Alinma was formed as a Shariah-compliant banking institution with a share capital of SR15 billion on the initiative of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.

The film explained the bank’s vision to become the preferred financial partner and to provide Shariah-compliant financial solutions for sustainable growth.

The film also highlighted several achievements of the bank. In 2008, the Alinma initial public offering (IPO) was praised by local media for being the most transparent in Saudi IPO history due to the publishing of the bank’s prospectus details in all local newspapers and major websites.

The Banker magazine, a subsidiary of the Financial Times, also named the Alinma IPO the best IPO in 2008 for the Middle East region. In late 2009, Alinma received the PCI-DSS 1.2.1 certification for card data security and received ISO 27001 global certification for online banking information security services.

In 2009, the bank was awarded the INSIGHTS award for best call center in the Middle East, and then in 2010 Alinma received Project Finance magazine’s “Deal of the Year” award for its role in the financing of the Rabigh Independent Power Plant project.

Abdulaziz Al-Zamil, chairman of Alinma Bank’s board of directors, noted that Alinma Bank was established to be a pioneering Shariah-compliant financial institution that would bolster the Saudi economy. He also added that Alinma’s 70 percent share is owned by the public in addition to the support of the Public Investment Fund, the Public Pension Agency and the General Organization for Social Insurance that have an equal number of shares each.

Arab News