Muscat: Committed to providing more value to customers, Sohar Islamic – Sohar International’s Islamic window, has launched its new Saving Plan Account as a significant step in highlighting the importance of inculcating a savings mindset for a healthy future. A recurring deposit in nature, the Sohar Islamic | Saving Plan Account gives customers the opportunity to meet their future financing needs by taking steps to start saving regularly. By promoting a culture of saving amongst the people, Sohar Islamic aims to help them accomplish their individual goals and also secure their family’s future. As an inaugural offer, Sohar Islamic is offering a RO 25 deposit for the first 100 account openers keeping a balance of RO 100 for 3 years.  

“At Sohar Islamic, we want to grow with the community. It brings us great joy to be a part of our customers’ journeys as they fulfill all their aspirations. By creating innovative product plans that will encourage our customers to take the initiative to start saving today, we want to imbibe amongst the community healthy savings habits that will go a long way in achieving financial security in the future. Often, people hesitate to take that first step as they think they don’t have enough to start saving. With our Saving Plan we make it possible for customers to take that first step by committing with smaller funds,” said Mr. Abdul Wahid, Chief Islamic Banking Officer, Sohar Islamic. “We have always led by example, showing how customers can make the most of Islamic banking solutions to grow their finances following Shariah-compliant banking practices.”

Following industry best practices and Shariah-compliant financing, the new Saving Plan will provide Sohar Islamic customers with a safe and secure savings platform that grows with time. According to their needs, customers can opt for a maximum tenure of 10 years while the minimum tenure is set for 6 months. Making saving for the future as easy, convenient and burden-free as possible, the minimum contribution required to start saving is only RO 50 per month.  The account also enables customers to open multiple plans for different purposes, therefore, giving each account a more focused approach. Bringing in more flexibility to the plan, it allows customers to partially withdraw amounts of up to 10% of the total plan size in the full year. 

Sohar Islamic | Saving Plan is based on the Shariah principles of Wakala where the bank invests the customers’ funds along with its own capital into Shariah-compliant ventures, thereby ensuring that all resultant returns, which are then shared with the customers.  The profits earned are calculated monthly and reinvested back into the plan to accelerate fund growth and meet the set targets even faster.

A premium, customer-centric bank that takes special initiatives to understand the varying needs of their customers, Sohar Islamic’s Saving Plan helps different people achieve their varying goals. While some focus on their children’s higher education, securing a comfortable retirement or starting a new business, others start budgeting and saving for reasons like Haj, marriage or being able to make down payments to acquire assets. Addressing the varying short-term targets as well as long-term goals of its customers, Sohar Islamic’s Saving Plan will encourage a savings culture. Through various such innovative products and services, the bank has proven its commitment to deliver superior banking services that are Shariah-compliant and have positively contributed to the country’s economy.