WORLD’S BEST ISLAMIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS 2011

Global Finance names the World’s Best Islamic Financial Institutions 2011

NEW YORK, April 15, 2011 - Global Finance magazine has announced its fourth annual awards for the World’s Best Islamic Financial Institutions. A full report on the selections will appear in the June issue of Global Finance . The winners of this year’s awards are those banks that contributed to the growth of Islamic financing and successfully met their customers’ needs for Shariah-compliant products, while creating the foundation for continued growth and safety in the future.

All selections were made by the editors of Global Finance , after extensive consultations with bankers, corporate finance executives and analysts throughout the world. In selecting these top banks, we considered factors that range from the quantitative objective to the informed subjective. Banks were invited to submit entries supporting their selection. Amid nominallly objective criteria were growth in assets, profitability, geographic reach, strategic relationships, new business development and innovation in products. Subjective criteria included opinions of equity analysts, banking consultants and others involved in the industry. The mix of these factors yields leading banks that may not be the largest, oldest or the most diversified in a given country, but rather the best – the banks with which customers around the world would most likely want to do business.

“Shariah-compliant finance is the fastest-growing area of finance worldwide, with more than 300 financial institutions that are either fully Islamic or selling Islamic finance products, in addition to several hundred more Islamic investment banks and insurance companies, or takaful,” says Global Finance’s publisher Joseph D. Giarraputo. “The winning banks were all noteworthy in their dedication to satisfying their customers’ needs in accordance with the rules of Islamic finance.”