About

Alinma Bank, a newcomer to the Saudi Arabia banking sector, completed the largest initial public offering in the Middle East and raised an estimated $2.8bn in 2008. The in house legal team, led by general counsel Eyad Othman was instrumental in a majority of the deals that the bank recently entered into while offering fully Shariah-compliant financial solutions to clients and partners. The legal team worked with the management during the signing of the agreement between the bank and the Saudi Arabian Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) to offer long term financing solutions to Saudi citizens who wish to own houses. In 2015 the bank signed an agreement with Jeddah Economic Co (JEC), the owner and developer of Jeddah Economic City and Jeddah Tower, to establish a real estate investment fund worth SAR8.4bn. All agreements and contracts related to the projects was drafted by the legal team and they made sure that the agreement and implementation process will be fully compliant with regulations in the county. The bank recently became the first in Saudi Arabia to offer card services compatible with the UnionPay International payment system, one of the largest payment networks in the world and the predominant network in East Asia. During the process of implementation Alinma worked with the Saudi Payments Network (MADA) and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) to address the technical requirements related to the linking of Alinma with UnionPay. As a result of the successful implementation, UnionPay system cardholders are now able to use Alinma Bank’s network of ATMs to make cash withdrawals.