Algeria: “Halal” Bank Loans Set To Be Launched By Next June 2017

Two new interest-free products will be launched during this half-year by the Local Development Bank (BDL). The first will focus on financing based on the El “Mourbaha” or “Halal” profit principle and the other on savings in the form of a notebook.

This announcement was made by the CEO of this public Bank, Mohamed Krim, on Tuesday morning, during the interview program called “Dheif Essabah” of Channel 1 of the National Radio. 

According to him, these “Halal” interest-free products come as a reply to numerous requests from large sections of the Algerian society who are keenly favourable for Islamic products. 

Thus, a working cell is to be installed in order to clear the way for the necessary process, he said. As a reminder, the launch of this kind of Sharia-based products at public Banks is an instruction stemming from the Government that hopes to hike the amounts of bank deposits by notably retrieving the enormous money outflows now circulating in the informal market across the country.

The Radio guest also pointed out that a new information system has been validated since 19 March 2017 and is destined to greatly facilitate several tasks devolved upon the bankers. 

A system that will have the objective of “putting an end to the scourge of bureaucracy since the banking operations will be carried out in an automatic way”, Mr Krim underscored to this effect.

 “A reliable system that will also allow the customer to benefit from the same advantages provided by his or her own banking agency”, he added.

According to the CEO of the BDL, it is foreseen “that this new system will be closely  linked to all the banks of  the country”, so it aims at the development of the whole Algerian banking system which “is  gearing more and more towards a commercial vision”, explained again Mr Mohamed Krim. 

Emphasizing that this information system was followed by a new organization that puts the customer at the heart of the concerns of the Bank, he noted that that currently “we no longer talk about regional directorates, but we focus on the trade hubs automatically without resorting to the use of paper documents to be delivered by the agency”.

Thus, through this brand-new system, the processing of credit records went from 21 to just 15 days, whereas it exceeded a period of one month previously, he said. 

Regarding foreign trade activities, the BDL’s CEO asserted that the exporters may now get their “Swift” within just one hour, while the use of the so-called “Cache Pauling” system allows large companies to unify their bank accounts throughout the national territory into a single account, which facilitates the management of their bank obligations, he underlined.