Sharia Board Rulings — Accounts & Deposits

• The bank distributes profit actually earned; it is not bound by an expected return or by market competition. Shareholders may top up depositors' profit with their approval, disclosed in the financial statements.
• Mudaraba pools may be separated by currency, each with its own profit. The mudaraba share must be fixed when the contract is signed, and any change requires notice to the depositor.
• Current accounts are qard hasan in their juristic characterisation, so no explicit permission is needed to deploy them. No profit or deduction may be taken on an overdraft — only a flat fee unrelated to the amount or its duration.
• Early withdrawal follows the principle of takharuj: the depositor sells their share of the pool. Where the pool is fully invested, the exit is settled against shareholders' funds.
• Each pool keeps its own provision — one pool's loss may not be met from another's, so that one depositor's profit is not handed to another.
• On liquidation the profit-equalisation reserve's shareholder share reverts to them and the unrestricted-investment share goes to charity; the investment-risk reserve goes to charitable causes as the Credit and Monetary Council directs.

• Approved products include the Aman, Ata', Shahr and Fursa deposits, the prepaid electronic card, the electronic account, the POS payment service, the Western Union remittance agreement, and «Bidayati», an investment account for university students.
• The Trust card is a non-revolving charge card under Sharia Standard 61: fees charged to the customer are limited to actual costs, no charge may be added for late payment, and the merchant's commission may not be passed on to the cardholder.
• A debt is repaid in kind with no addition, however far the currency has fallen — while the Board urges both parties toward an amicable settlement.
• Incentive prizes for savings-account holders are permitted as pure donation, with no obligation on the bank; current accounts may yield no return, except where an account is opened electronically with no deposit or minimum balance required.
• The «Sharia violations fund» was renamed the Charity Account, since it also holds lawful money.

The full Arabic text of all fifty rulings in this document is published on the Arabic version of this page. The signed original is below.