News in brief: Islamic banking round-up

Seychelles-registered Bank of Muscat International Offshore (BMIO) is considering introducing Islamic finance to the 115-island country. The Al Salam Bank of Bahrain, which owns 50% of shares in BMIO, is talking with the Seychelles authorities about future plans following the recent approval of BMIO’s reorganisation. Details of the reorganisation are complex, but the governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles, Caroline Abel, says it took about 8 months for everything to complete. An Al Salam delegation was in the country in July to talk about making BMIO a Shari’ah-compliant bank.