Analysis of Financial Performance of Islamic banks in Oman: A Comparative study of Alizz Islamic Bank and Bank Nizwa of Dhofar Region

Abstract Banks are definitely the spine within the economic system in the country since they perform an important part within the effort to achieve steady costs, higher level of work as well as sound financial development. The financial organizations within Oman have been witness to a tremendous development these days, primarily because of continual boost within oil costs, initiatives to diversify the actual economic system, execution of huge industrial, real-estate and also infrastructure ventures as well as developing increased exposure of the actual private arena. The actual financial system within Oman have been through numerous rounds of mergers since 1990s having a couple of bank exits as well as new entrants, and as by the end of 2009, the quantity of commercial banks stands with an overall of eighteen, of which seven are regionally integrated, two specialized banks and nine of them are branches of international banks.This paper will take a look on the financial system of two selected Islamic banks, Bank Nizwa and Alizz Islamic Bank. The study reveals that these Islamic banks are stable. However, it is evident that these banks have not yet overpowered the command of other commercial banks existing in their respective regions. Moreover, in comparison to other Islamic banks in regions like Africa, Islamic banks in Oman perform better. Keywords: Islamic banks, financial performance, Bank Nizwa, Bank Alizz, growth

1Mohammad Noor Alam, 2 Naushad Alam

IJIRG-09-05-101