In 2015-17, nearly 6, 000 customers opened accounts at Coris Baraka, the agency for Islamic financing of the Burkinabe subsidiary of Coris Bank International.

The information was revealed by Diakarya Ouattara, managing director of Coris Bank International Burkina Faso, during a ceremony on Jan. 27.

However, he did not provide details on the volume of deposits collected, or outstanding credits granted by this arm of the bank. But the project benefited from about €17 million provided by the Islamic Development Bank to support private sector, in 2016.

Sally Sylvie Kinda, one of Coris Baraka’s executives, said that in 2015-16, the Islamic finance branch also raised awareness among non-Muslim Burkinabe. The latter have quickly embraced Islamic finance products as of 2017. The group plans to extend this service throughout its network.

Chamberline Moko