Sth Korea’s Woori makes country’s first financial transaction with an Islamic bank

South Korea's state-owned Woori Bank says its financing worth $10 million to Qatar Islamic Bank on Jan 11 was the East Asian country's first ever Shariah-compliant banking transaction, reported The Korea Times. 

The murabahah financing was made through Woori's Bahrain branch. 

The financing with QIB is aimed at securing new income sources overseas and cushioning the impact of market volatility on the domestic market as a result of a series of expected U.S. rate hikes, said the report.

Apart from Bahrain, Woori also has branches in other Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, and UAE. 

QIB is Qatar's largest Shariah-compliant financial institution by assets.