United Bank of Albania UBA Sh.a. (Albania)

United Bank of Albania (UBA), the former Arab-Albanian Islamic bank, was incorporated in July, 1994. Its current name was introduced in 2003. UBA was founded by the state-owned National Commercial Bank of Albania (NCBA) and a group of Islamic investors. In the late 90’s, the bank was embroiled in accusations of funneling money to terrorist organizations active in the region. In 2000 NCBA was privatized and its 40% stake in UBA was acquired by the Ministry of Finance. On 30 March 2009, UBA changed its shareholding structure again, after the Ministry of Finance sold its stake in the Albanian lender to the Islamic Development Bank Jeddah (IDB), which already held 15% in UBA. The price of the deal amounted to USD 8.0 million. UBA is licensed to act as manager, on a trustee basis, of funds invested in accordance with Islamic laws and principles. The bank attends its clients through a network of five branches in Albania’s biggest cities.