One of Oman’s prestigious projects, the Duqm Refinery project as reported by the company has availed US$4.61 billion of Shariah compliant project financing involving 29 financing institutions from 13 countries. The insurance policies and guarantees have been provided by three major export credit agencies. As a rule, Shariah compliant project financing must be insured by Takaful companies.

In the wake of introducing Shariah compliant short-term fi nancing products, Muzn, the Islamic banking window of the National Bank of Oman established in 2013, has launched Muzn Education Finance to assist aspiring individuals in their educational goals. Muzn Education Finance is based on the Islamic principle of service Ijarah. The bank acquires the service from the educational institution, school or university of choice, provided they fulfill the bank’s set criteria and terms of conditions. The institution is then appointed to provide educational services to the customer for a service cost paid by the bank upfront.

Subsequently, Muzn Islamic Banking leases the services for a price to be paid in installments by the customer to the bank. This product is available to citizens and residents living in the Sultanate. Also, Bank Nizwa, which recently opened its 13th fully-fl edged branch, signed an MoU with 4Home, the premium home furniture retailer, to enable 4Home customers to purchase from 4Home under a Shariah compliant financing scheme. The solution is designed according to the Shariah concepts of Murabahah/Ijarah.

The bank has also introduced a wide portfolio of personal banking products and services including transactional and investment accounts, as well as finance and investment products such as auto finance, property finance and Mudarabah investments.

Dhana Pillai is the head of real estate, tax and project finance at Al Hashmi Law Firm (Oman). She can be contacted at dhana.pillai@ohlaw.net.