Islamic investment megabank likely to launch in 2018

A proposed Islamic investment megabank, which has been in the pipeline for years, is likely to be launched in 2018, according to the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) spokesman on Monday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 43rd annual IDB meeting in capital Tunis, Abdul-Hakim Elwaer said: "Discussions are still on going. We very much hope so, we very optimistic that we will see something coming up within 2018."

The idea for the proposed bank emerged in 2015; a year later, Indonesia, Turkey and the IDB decided to set up committees to look into the proposal.

About the fact that several years have passed since the idea was first proposed, Elwaer said it was "normal" that such proposals to create a unique bank took time.

"When you have something of a critical nature like the megabank, countries are expressing interests, either same interests or different interests…," Elwaer explained.

He said that Turkey and Indonesia remain keen on the bank, adding that a very important issue was to bring the leaders of the countries together.

Business leaders from Muslim nations have gathered in the Tunisian capital to review last year's IDB performance, and discuss and approve its development agenda for the year ahead.

Representatives of 57 member states, senior government officials and ministers of finance, economy, planning and international development are attending the 43rd annual meeting of the bank in Tunis from April 1-5.