‘Islam is in our DNA’ says bank chief after Noor drops Islamic from title

Noor bank chief explains the rebranding.

Hussain Al Qemzi, the CEO of Noor Bank. Sarah Dea / The National

The Islamic banking industry is generally regarded as one of the key growth sectors in a competitive and crowded financial market, where the big global players are fighting for market share in an increasingly cost-competitive environment.

Dubai has declared its ambition, meanwhile, to be the “global capital of Islamic economy” on a demanding three-year timetable to exploit its position as a prime trading hub in the centre of the Islamic world.

The initiative to promote the Islamic economy is one of the main drivers of Dubai’s growth strategy.

So on the face of it, yesterday was a tricky event for Hussain Al Qemzi to pull off. The bank of which he has been chief executive for nearly six years, Noor Islamic, had decided to drop the word “Islamic” from its title, and he was explaining why.

“We want to grow, and our new branding gives us the freedom and inspiration to flourish,” he said.

Quite a buzz went round the meeting room where Mr Al Qemzi was speaking. Did that mean that Noor was abandoning its Islamic roots?

For a bank ultimately owned by the governments of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and with some top members of the UAE elite also on its share members, and with some top members of the UAE elite also on its share register, that would be a radical development indeed, and Mr Al Qemzi could certainly expect to be grilled on the reasons for the change.

But he is an experienced operator in the senior echelons of Dubai’s power nexus, and had obviously foreseen the possible interpretations that could be put on the name change. So he put a stop to such speculation even before it really began.

“Adherence to Sharia’s values and principles is in our DNA, and they will continue to be the bedrock of our business decisions,” he said.

It was a deft restatement of basic principles from an executive who has been involved in some of Dubai’s more critical corporate situations in the course of a long career with some of the biggest names in the business.

In addition to his job at Noor, where he has been since 2008, he was involved in the establishment of the Dubai International Financial Centre when it was set up 10 years ago, and served as its chief operating officer.

He holds directorships on both the Dubai Financial Market and Nasdaq Dubai, the emirate’s two stock exchanges, and he is a board member of Emaar Properties, the leading developer.

In addition, he is a member of the High Committee for the Development of Islamic Economy, set up to oversee Dubai’s ambitions as a global Islamic hub.

He is regarded as a conscientious and talented “safe pair of hands” with nearly three decades of experience in the Dubai financial sector, and with those kind of credentials, there was never any real possibility that Noor’s rebranding was in any way a retreat from its Islamic foundations.

Rather, it was “a strategic move aimed at underlining its local and international growth ambitions and broadening the appeal of its Islamic finance products and services to all communities in the UAE”, he said.

“Dubai is now the centre of gravity between east and west, and the focus of the Islamic economy from Casablanca to Jakarta. Our ambition coincides with Dubai’s. We can be the catalyst to put Dubai at the heart of Islamic finance,” he added.

He landed the job at Noor (the flagship of Noor Investment Group, of which he is also chief executive) in what he describes as “the dark days” of 2008.

“We saw the discrediting of traditional banking models, but we’ve grown and prospered, and we are now in a strong financial position. Over the past five years, while the rest of the banking sector has faced censure, we have won praise,” he said, referring to the growing number of awards the bank has earned.

The rebranding will leave Noor with a four-pronged strategy. In addition to banking, it will focus on trade finance, takaful (insurance) and awqaf (endowments and asset management.)

So does he believe the rebranded entity will attract more customers? “We are a bank for everybody, for Muslims and non-Muslims. In any case Noor is what our customers were calling us already. We are looking to make the brand simpler and more attractive.”

He also pointed out that many of the big names in the Islamic finance industry, such as Al Rahji, Saudi Arabia’s biggest bank by assets, did not use the word “Islamic” in their names at all.

“The values and principles of Islam are implicit in our brand, and we live the values of transparency and fair dealing with customers. We don’t need to come and shout ‘we are Islamic’ because our customers already know that Islam is in our DNA.”