|
THE
GROUP
Since
its inauguration, ABG GROUP, based in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia, has been continually excelling in
research and development in the Islamic Banking
and Finance Industry. ABG has played a unique role
in the development of Islamic finance
opportunities for the benefit of both conventional
financial market participants and the rapidly
growing Islamic finance market.
ABG represents the Financial Services Sector of
the ABG in which the Group’s extensive financial
services, banking and investment resources are
pooled and made available to meet the financing
and investment needs of modern society.
ABID
started operations in 1982 with a paid-up capital
of US $50 million, with the aim of serving as an
investment vehicle for the Group’s surplus
liquidity. Since then, through careful
acquisitions and investments, ABIDhas established itself as one of the largest Islamic financial
institutions in the world today. The group has
strong relationships with businesses, governments,
central banks, and Islamic financial institutions.
The impact of ABID’s investments becomes
apparent when one looks at its 43 subsidiaries,
affiliates and share-holdings, which are active in
Banking, Investments and Securities, Insurance and
Reinsurance and Leasing, in 29 countries around
the globe, and from the building block of its
international composition. As of the end 1996,
ABID’s investment in these units amounted to
nearly US $900 million and the combined subsidiary
units' assets including funds under management
were US $4.4 billion.
ABG has a Unified Board for Sharia' (Islamic
Jurisprudence) to guide all the institutions in
the financial services sector and to study Sharia'
related issues as they arise, in accordance with
any individual Sharia' Boards of the various
institutions of the sector and the Jeddah Fiqeh
Academy, (currently the most authoritative body of
Sharia scholars in the Islamic world). The Unified
Board passes Fatwas (Sharia' rulings) for the
various institutions and is involved in organizing
the annual Fiqeh symposium of DGB which draws
scholars from all over the world, as well as in
the various Islamic banking and Sharia'
educational publications and
software of the Group.
|
