The Union of Arab Banks

The Union of Arab Banks was established in 1974. The founders wished to create an organization that gathers all the banks of the Arab states and create a support system. This system would help safeguard all the banks interests, create a place where policy can be established and help secure economic development projects that will benefit Arab nations.

The main concern of the Union of Arab banks is to foster cooperation and business relations between the members of the Union. They also implement policies that encourage members to promote their Arab identity and work toward a common interest. Most importantly, the Union encourages banks to support economic and social development in the Arab region.

The Union of Arab Banks is currently headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon and has three addition offices throughout the Middle East. The Union can boast over 300 members of major banks and financial institutions from around the Middle East.
This makes it the largest alliance of its type in the region.

The Three Governing Bodies of the Union of Arab Banks

The Union has three separate governing bodies. Each body performs a specific task and is managed by different members. While each body makes independent decisions, all actions from the three bodies are directly intertwined.

The Board of Directors

The Board holds the highest authority in the Union. It is comprised of delegates from Arab countries that have members in the Union. These members must be currently active members to qualify. Members that are from a central bank, a partially Arab owned bank or other financial institution is not allowed to sit on the board, but they may attend board meetings as observers. The main function of the board is to implement the policies and achieve the goals that have been set forth by the members of the General Assembly.

General Assembly

The General Assembly meets once a year and is filled with members that are both active and observer members. It is at this yearly meeting that the Assembly decides on what issues need to be addressed and create an agenda to present to the Board of Directors for implementation during the next year.

The General Secretariat

This is the administrative part of the governing bodies. The Secretariat is responsible for all technical and administrative duties required to implement the rulings of the General Assembly and the Board of Directors.

Union of Arab Banks Membership

Membership in the Union of Arab Banks falls under two separate and distinct categories. The first is active membership. Active membership includes all persons belonging to Arab banking, financial or investment bodies. This membership will also include foreign joint Arab banking institutions.

The second type of membership, called observer membership, is for Arab central banks, foreign joint ventures, where Arab ownership is less than 51% but more than 25%, and Arab banking associations. Each membership has individual rights and duties that are determined each year.

The Mission and Work of the Union of Arab Banks

The mission of the Union is to provide the members a reliable place to obtain information about the Arab financial sector. The creations of seminars, conferences, research labs and publications have been the main objective of the Union.

Conferences have been designed to address all financial transactions within the Arab community. With elite leaders from the banking community, these conferences are a plethora of information and instruction. Encouraging economic growth for the Arab region, these conferences also address issues concerning ventures with banking institutions outside of the Arab territory.

The Union also publishes the Ittihad al Masaref al Arabiya magazine which is considered to be the leading authority on Arabic finances in the region. The Union also, to date, has had over 300 books published concerning all natures of Arab financial information. The Union also has the Data Bank, a gathering of information about the Arab financial industry. It is the hopes of the Union to make this the one main reference center for Islamic banking.

The Union continues to lead the Arab banking world by providing much needed services to banks and financial institutions. It encourages economic development, adherence to Sharia law and encourages banks and financial institutions to work for the betterment of the Arab community.