LOLC Al-Falaah -the Islamic Business Unit (IBU) of Lanka ORIX Finance Company Ltd. (LOFC) – recorded a milestone when its inaugural Annual Report, on the theme “Dressed for Success” won the Bronze award at the world renowned “2009 Vision Awards”, presented by the League of American Communications Professionals LLC (LACP).

There were more than 4,000 entries from 28 countries in this competition, of which some were from Top Fortune 500 firms, and only the top 15% entries received award level recognition. The LACP Vision Awards in their Annual Report Competition category recognizes the most outstanding annual reports of the year, whilst providing a platform for many reputed and well established global organizations to demonstrate their achievements for the year in review.

LOLC Al-Falaah’s inaugural annual report, aptly titled “Dressed for Success”, captured the special attention of the judges in the following categories: first impression, report cover, letter to shareholders, report narrative, report financials, creativity, message clarity and information accessibility. It should be duly noted that this significant achievement bears testimony to the perfect partnership established between LOLC and Smart Media (Pvt) Ltd., the agency responsible in the creative execution of this annual report.

LOLC Al-Falaah is a business unit of Lanka ORIX Finance Company Ltd. (LOFC) engaged in Shari’ah compliant financial operation, which has obtained special approval to function within the framework of LOFC. LOFC is a registered finance company under the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). LOLC Al-Falaah’s journey commenced with LOLC’s entry to Islamic Finance in 2003, when a single product in the category of “Islamic Leasing” was offered to its expanding customer base. Existing customers belonging to the Islamic faith were increasingly moving away from the conventional financial system in search of an alternative financing system, which was in line with their religious beliefs.

This gave rise to a need for a financial system which was in harmony with Shari’ah principles and was significantly different to the conventional financial system. Hence, in 2007, LOLC Al-Falaah was born.

At present, LOLC Al-Falaah offers product concepts such as Mudharabah (Profit – Sharing Investments and Savings), Ijarah (Leasing), Murabaha (Trade Financing) and Diminishing Musharakah (Property/Project Financing), which are supervised by an Internal Shari’ah supervisory board chaired by industry leading Shari’ah scholars.

The latest product added to its portfolio is the Mudharabah savings account, and its most distinguishing feature is that it is Sri Lanka’s first fully integrated Shari’ah compliant and regulated savings account accessible through more than 45 service centres and 350+ local ATM machines island wide as well as enabling global accessibility to the accounts through the Maestro network.

The Shari’ah based principles lend moral and ethical guidance whilst ensuring transparency, accountability and a conscious contribution to the country’s economy, which makes it attractive to customers.
Commenting on the success of Al-Falaah, the CEO, Mr. Krishan Thilakaratne said, “LOLC Al-Falaah has the potential to champion and proliferate an authentic alternative to conventional financing in Sri Lanka. With its branch network intended to penetrate the newly liberated North and East, in the prevailing climate of post war reintegration and reconciliation, LOLC as a financial entity is an exemplary role model to many other financial institutions in the country, in that it recognizes and respects the diverse financial needs of our peers in accordance with their religious and faith-based requirements, and is also committed towards serving all people and sectors of our country as a whole.”