Chapter 2
Company Overview
2.1 Background of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited
Islam is considered to be a religion which caters to building a complete lifestyle. The main aim of this
lifestyle is to have success in both in world and after world. So, in every aspect, the doctrine of Al-Quran
should be followed and the lifestyle of Hazrat Muhammad (SM) should be taken as idol for achieving
ultimate success in life.
Al-Arafah Islami Bank started their journey by keeping these ideologies in mind on 18th of June, 1995
and their opening ceremony was held on 27th September, 1995. This bank is widely known as AIBL and
the head office of this bank is situated in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. If we want to name the
directors of this bank, then we can see that the group of directors consist of dedicated, established and
pious human beings who catered to the architecture of this bank.
The founder chairman of this bank is a highly famous Islamic scholar and writer named Mr. A.Z.M.
Shamsul Alam who was an ex-bureaucrat of Bangladesh government as well. If we had to note down
the tools required for a bank to achieve success, then it should obviously include high quality customer
service and usage of new and modern technology according to the era. If we look at the structure of
AIBL, then we can see that it consists of different sorts of services and products which can be
customized according to the needs of customers. They are solely committed towards serving the
national economy. This bank is also known for providing many opportunities to their clients.
They can suggest schemes for deposits, investments, SME banking, micro financing, foreign trade etc. If
we first look at the schemes for deposits, there are schemes such as Al Wadiah current deposit scheme,
Mudaraba Savings deposit scheme, Mudaraba Term Deposit scheme, Mudaraba Short Notice Deposit
etc. While looking at their investment sector, we can see that they invest in hire purchase sector,
Mosques and Madrasas, Small investments, transportation sectors etc.
Next, if we look at the SME banking services, then we can see that they provide Agro Industries, small
businesses, entrepreneurs, women etc. In micro financing sector, they work to help the rural
entrepreneurs so that the social condition of rural people can be developed and an employment scope
can be created for them. There are other things as well which AIBL provides and those includes, internet
banking, SMS banking, remittance services etc.
There are in total 180 branches of AIBL, 8 SME units and manpower of 3682. There are 22142
shareholders in total of the bank. The authorized capital of this bank is Taka 15,000.00 million and the
paid-up capital till December 2020 is about Taka 10,649.02 million. (Al Arafah Islami Bank Ltd, 2021)
As the bank serves the clients according to their needs, so all the latest baking systems are used for
serving them. The reason behind Al-Arafah Islami Bank becoming one of the leading and modern banks
of Bangladesh is the wish of Almighty Allah, the Islamic bankers and the wisdom of the directors of this
bank.
The charter of Islamic development bank was signed by Bangladesh in the month of August, 1974. In this
way, Bangladesh committed themselves to organize their economic and financial systems as per the
laws of Islamic Shariah. As the attitude of the government is very favorable, so there are in total seven
Islamic Banks who operate in the financial market of Bangladesh. The banks are as follows:
Islamic Bank Bangladesh Ltd.
The Oriental Bank Ltd. (Al-Baraka Bank Bangladesh Ltd.)
Al – Arafah Islami Bank Ltd.
Social Investment Bank Ltd.
Shahjalal Islamic Bank Ltd.
Exim Bank Ltd ICB Islamic Bank
2.2 Historical backgrounds
