Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank to receive universal banking license in Kazakhstan by year-end - regulator

ASTANA. Sept 8 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan's Financial Market Regulation and Development Agency plans to issue a universal banking license to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) by the end of this year, the agency's head, Madina Abylkasymova, said.

"Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank will receive a universal banking license with the ability to operate through an Islamic window before the end of this year," she said in an interview with the state newspaper Kazakhstanskaya Pravda.

She said the new Law on Banks and Banking Activities allowed traditional and Islamic banking to be combined within a single universal bank.

In late March, the agency granted ADCB permission to establish a subsidiary bank in Kazakhstan. The subsidiary, to be incorporated as Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (Kazakhstan) JSC, will be wholly owned by the parent bank, which will provide capitalization, strategic management and operational support.