Going Rural

July 22, 2007 (LBO) - ABC Investments, a new Sri Lankan Islamic investment group, plans to expand their business with branches outside the capital Colombo, especially in areas with large concentrations of Muslim people.



The Islamic Takaful insurance concept has a growing customer base in Sri Lanka with Amana Takaful.

The firm which provides Barakah Islamic financial services, looks to cross the 300 million deposit mark before December while operating only in Colombo.

They plan to move into Kattankudy in the island's east and Kandy in the central hills by January.

At the moment they manage 1000 accounts in Colombo and hope to reach 10,000 within a year as they move into the other regions.

We will manage both Matale and Katugastota areas from Kandy and by March open a unit in Puttalam (in the north-west) as well, says Managing Director of the ABC Investments Mohammed Razeek.

These are areas with significant concentrations of Muslim people who make up the island's third largest ethnic group after Sinhalese and Tamils.

The Islamic finance firm also said that they want to become a full fledged Islamic bank as soon as regulators allow it.

The Central Bank is studying the Islamic banki