Conventional banking and finance wisdom would see an unlikely match between personal wealth creation and the interest-free world of Shari’ah compliant and Islamic banking.

That is, however, the very gap that Thara’a, a Shari’ah compliant savings account that was launched by Barwa Bank, is promising to tackle in reconciling modern banking trends with traditional Islamic banking principles.

Long term loyalty

In a tiered reward-based loyalty scheme for personal banking customers – and in a first for Qatar’s Islamic banks – Barwa Bank’s Thara’a savings account offers account holders cash prizes up to 2,645,000 QAR in a slew of periodic draws for the year 2015.

Customers must hold a minimum balance of 10,000 QAR to qualify for monthly draws, which will reward a total of 44 loyal customers with up QAR 50,000. In parallel, quarterly draws will each grant one customer a grand prize of 1,000,000 QAR.

Thara'a will offer an interest-free structure that is set to seamlessly bridge high returns on customer deposits and capital with the fundamentals of Shari’ah compliant banking, but that, also, strategically engages customers as active contributors in a new model that rewards long term loyalty rather than one-shot campaign-driven transactions.

Coupled with the cash prizes is a tailored bundle of value-added benefits and services, including access to Barwa Bank’s multiple banking channels, unlimited withdrawals and deposits, as well as free fund transfers across customers’ accounts.

Progressive thinking

Such has been the fresh perspective and direction that Barwa Bank had adopted in a host of products and services it developed over the recent years.

At a relatively young age in the market amongst Qatar’s longstanding and established Islamic financial institutions, the bank dubs itself as ‘Qatar’s most progressive Shari’ah compliant service provider’; very purposely so, guided by a philosophy that conventional Islamic and Shari’ah compliant values and principles can work in favor of, rather than against, modern banking models.

At a time when regional and international financial markets are crossing over at unprecedented speed and scale, this philosophy could very well play into a new wave of growth for Qatar’s predominantly Islamic financial institutions; and even more so for Barwa bank, which has placed itself at the crux of this transformation.

International heights for Islamic finance

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis – and even more so the current uncertain environment - worldwide financiers and economists have been flocking away from structured products that plagued capital and stock markets with complex payout schemes.

They’re tapping into a wealth of opportunities in Islamic finance at large and, on a more granular level, in Shari’ah compliant funds, Islamic capital financing and Sukuk issuance; nowhere more evidently than in the IFN Europe forum, which, now in its second edition, is dedicated to Islamic finance prospects, challenges and traction in Europe.

At the forum, Barwa Bank aptly led a discussion on the Sukuk investor landscape; an arena it had been heavily invested in as it co-led and co-managed a series of flagship Sukuk issuance transactions in the past years.

With the launch of Thara’a, the bank is trickling down its progressive Shari’ah compliant philosophy from its trade finance, capital markets and corporate banking verticals to its personal banking and wealth management business; a move that would, unarguably, capture a wider customer and deposit base. 

Barwa Bank offers an extensive variety of personal banking products and investments, as well as eight strategically located branches and a broad network of more than 60 ATMs located across Qatar.

Customers can access their accounts from the convenience of their office or home through the state-of–the-art online banking, or via the 24/7 Contact Centre 800 8555.