HNB Al Najah bags multiple Golds at SLIBFI Awards 2017

HNB Al Najah, Hatton National Bank’s (HNB) Islamic banking business, extended its market leadership position, securing two Gold awards together with two Bronze awards at the annual awards ceremony of the Sri Lanka Islamic Banking and Finance Industry (SLIBFI).
HNB Al Najah won the Gold award for Islamic Finance Window/Unit of the Year and Islamic Finance Deal of the Year, together with a Bronze award for Islamic Finance Entity of the Year. 
Public Enterprises Development Minister Kabir Hashim served as the chief guest at the event. 
Rizwan Sabireen of HNB Al Najah was also awarded a Bronze award for Islamic Finance Rising Personality of the Year - an award presented to individuals under the age of 35 in recognition of significant contributions towards the development of Islamic finance in the country.
Having only just recently celebrated its fifth anniversary in February, HNB Al Najah stands as a first rate example of a successful business that has grown rapidly to become a true leader in the field of Islamic finance in Sri Lanka. 
Drawing attention to the company’s tremendous success in such a short span of time, HNB Head of Islamic Banking Hisham Ally explained how from the outset, HNB’s goal was to become the market leader in Sharia-compliant banking solutions in Sri Lanka. “It has been a great honour to have won such strong recognition for our work by the SLIBFI. Having successfully demonstrated HNB Al Najah’s ability to be the preferred choice for Islamic finance in Sri Lanka, we are confident that we will be able to achieve significant growth and play a leading role in the continued development of Sharia-compliant products for the domestic market in the future,” he stated. HNB Al Najah offers a wide range of Sharia-compliant products and services to cater to the varied requirements of retail, SME and corporate segments of the market. The uniqueness of HNB Al Najah is that these services could be availed through any of the bank’s branch network seamlessly even though the operations of the Islamic banking business are centralized at its main office in Bambalapitiya.
HNB’s Islamic banking business in its short span of existence, has recorded remarkable industry best performances in terms of profitability, growth and market share, whilst maintaining a high-quality lending portfolio with zero NPA. Being a window unit of a conventional banking business, these achievements are a reflection of HNB’s investment commitment to the Islamic banking industry to support and develop this valued customer segment.
To further broad base Islamic financing in Sri Lanka, HNB Al Najah recently set up three specialized units in Pettah, Kalmunai and Kandy catering to the needs of Islamic financing. Kalmunai and Kandy units were opened with the objective of serving the entire East and Central regions. 
HNB Al Najah also operates a foreign currency banking unit (FCBU) in order to fund overseas and local projects. A large number of benchmark transactions were structured in the FCBU in 2016 to support the development of the Islamic banking business in the country. DGM Corporate Banking Ruwan Manatunga articulated that HNB Al Najah, headed by Hisham Ally - a veteran banker with many years of Shariah banking experience behind him, along with his accomplished team, in a short period of time has established a proven track record and a leadership position in the Islamic banking space. Manatunga also reiterated HNB’s commitment to the further development of Islamic banking in Sri Lanka adding that the bank would continue to strengthen its investments towards product depth and service offering in order to provide a world-class Islamic banking experience to its esteemed customers.  
Backed by HNB’s superior infrastructure and strong branch network, HNB Al Najah is well positioned to be the benchmark in Shariah-compliant banking in Sri Lanka, in alignment with the bank’s core objective of being the leading banking and financing house in the country.