Afghanistan approves first full-fledged Islamic bank
KABUL: Afghanistan’s central bank has granted a license to the Islamic Bank of Afghanistan (IBA), the first lender in the country to apply the interest-free principles of Islamic finance in all its operations, a senior bank official told Reuters.
The IBA was previously known as Bakhtar Bank and operated under a conventional banking license since it was acquired by Azizi Bank in 2009.
The central bank, Da Afghanistan Bank, granted the license on April 9 after the IBA completed the conversion of its balance sheet, said…