February 21st, 2020
In its recently concluded 46th Shariah Supervisory Board meeting, Meezan Bank’s Shariah Supervisory Board approved guidelines for digital Mudarabah-based mobile account to support financial inclusion in Pakistan.
The meeting was chaired by Dr. Muhammad Imran Ashraf Usmani and attended by Sheikh Esam Mohamed Ishaq, Mufti Muhammad Naveed Alam, Mr. Ahmed Ali Siddiqui and other key officials. Mr. Irfan Siddiqui – President & CEO, Meezan Bank and Mr. Ariful Islam – Deputy CEO, Meezan Bank were also present in the meeting which was held at Movenpick Hotel, Karachi.
The Shariah Supervisory Board showed its overall satisfaction on the Shariah-compliance environment and operations of the Bank.
Several key issues were discussed in the meeting related to modern trends in Islamic banking. Guidelines for a digital mobile account – Meezan Asaan Mobile Account based on Mudarabah was approved under which a customer can open his digital mobile account at Meezan Bank without the hassle of visiting any physical branch. On maintaining balance in this account, the customer would be entitled to receive halal profit based on actual returns of Shariah-compliant financings on monthly basis. Furthermore, the customer can use this account to deposit and withdraw funds digitally or from any Meezan Bank branch all over Pakistan.
The Shariah Supervisory Board also gave important guidelines related to housing finance facility to be offered by the Bank in collaboration with Pakistan Mortgage Refinance Company which is low cost housing finance solution for the lower and middle income families.
Relevant guidelines related to Islamic Fintech solution for supply chain financing were also issued by the Shariah Supervisory Board to make Shariah-compliant financing solutions accessible to Small and Medium Enterprises in Pakistan.
Earlier on the same day, a meeting between Shariah Supervisory Board and Board of Directors (BoDs) of Meezan Bank was also held as part of the annual meeting plan of the Shariah Supervisory Board and BoD. In this meeting Dr. Muhammad Imran Ashraf Usmani conducted a learning session for the Board and also apprised them regarding the key decisions taken by the Shariah Supervisory Board during the year 2019.