Bahrain’s Al Baraka Islamic Bank is looking to expand its operations to France, Indonesia and China, according to its CEO Adnan Ahmed Yousif. The bank’s entry to France, which will happen by next year, is as part of its ambitions to expand across Europe. The bank was in the midst of launching an Islamic bank in France, but with the global financial crisis the project was halted, Yousif said, adding that now they are looking to revive the project again. Al Baraka, which has operations across the Middle East, Asia and Africa including Pakistan, Jordan and South Africa, also plans to acquire a bank in Indonesia either this year or in 2017 and was in talks with the Indonesian central bank governor. The bank already has a representative office there. Yosif said the bank wants to launch banking operations in China this year and is awaiting a decision in March from Morocco’s central bank about its plans to enter the market there.
