History
The 5th of May 2004 marked a milestone event in the Muslim community and the South African banking sector when the FirstRand Group announced the birth of First National Bank IslamicFinance. This was the first mainstream bank in South Africa to offer Muslim clients the opportunity of purchasing Shariah (Islamic) approved vehicle finance through WesBank, a division of FirstRand Bank.
Muslim clients (estimated at 1.2 million), welcomed the option of purchasing vehicle finance which complied with the Shari'ah law's ban on interest. Although this new finance package catered for the Muslim community, it was also available to and taken up by non-Muslims.
Ebi Patel was appointed CEO of FNB IslamicFinance and has developed the suite of products from vehicle finance to a range of Shari'ah compliant transactional banking products for business and consumer clients. This offering has grown to include cheque accounts, debit cards, youth accounts, home loans (fixed 20 year mortgage bond), vehicle and asset finance of up to 5 years and commercial property finance.
Today FNB IslamicFinance caters for the banking and finance needs of individuals and businesses, while continuously adding more products to the existing Shari'ah compliant range. The client base includes Muslim and non-Muslim clients in South Africa and Botswana and growth has exceeded initial expectations and forecasts.
Despite challenging financial times globally, FNB IslamicFinance continues to reflect growth in all business sectors with a recent international report indicating that the global credit crunch will have a positive impact on the demand for Islamic banking and Shari'ah compliant products.
FNB IslamicFinance has come a long way since its early days sharing office space with WesBank at Johannesburg's BankCity. Now situated in FNB Towers in Diagonal Street, FNB IslamicFinance is proud to trade from the heart of historical Johannesburg and to have its head office in the financial hub of the city.
