Botswana
First National Bank of Botswana is on the Bank of Botswana's list of licensed commercial banks (31 December 2025), and its own website offers an Islamic Banking Account, an Islamic Term Deposit Account and Islamic Asset Finance. No law or Bank of Botswana rule written for Islamic banking was found.
Five checks
Banking rulesNot found
No Islamic banking law or Bank of Botswana rule was found. The Banking Act No. 8 of 2023, in force with its regulations since 15 August 2025, covers licensing of banks and deposit-taking institutions and does not mention Islamic banking. FNB Botswana runs its Islamic unit under its ordinary commercial bank licence; its account terms say they are governed by Islamic law on the Mudarabah principle.
- “to promote safety and soundness of banks and for matters incidental thereto.”
Bank of Botswana · 2023-05-26 - “which came into effect on 15 August 2025”
Bank of Botswana · 2025-11-24 - “These terms & conditions are governed by Islamic Law on the Mudarabah principle.”
First National Bank of Botswana · 2021
Licensed banks and windowsFound
- First National Bank of Botswana Limited - FNBB Islamic Banking · windowIslamic Banking AccountIslamic Term Deposit AccountIslamic Asset Finance
- “Commercial banks are entities licensed under the Banking Act, 2023 to conduct banking business.”
Bank of Botswana · 2025-12-31 - “First National Bank of Botswana Limited”
Bank of Botswana · 2025-12-31 - “FNB Botswana introduces Islamic Banking, a Shari'ah compliant option for personal and business accounts as well as asset finance.”
First National Bank of Botswana - “A new banking choice to our valued clients that will operate separately from our other accounts and is compliant with Shari'ah law.”
First National Bank of Botswana - “The Islamic Term Deposit Account is a Shari'ah compliant investment account”
First National Bank of Botswana - “We have a Shari'ah compliant property loan whereby the bank acts as an agent of the client”
First National Bank of Botswana
Sukuk issuedNot found
- “The primary objective of Botswana’s debt management is to ensure that the financing needs and payment obligations of Government are met”
Bank of Botswana · 2026
Takaful (non-interest insurance)Found
Bryte Risk Services Botswana (B.I.C.B. Limited) offers personal and business cover that it calls Shari'ah compliant cover on its own website. Bryte announced the launch in Botswana in September 2019. No takaful rule from NBFIRA, the insurance regulator, was found, and Bryte's NBFIRA licence was not confirmed because the regulator's list did not load.
- “Shari’ah compliant cover offers an alternative solution that adheres to Shari’ah law”
B.I.C.B. Limited trading as Bryte Risk Services Botswana - “announces the launch of Shariah-compliant Insurance in Botswana”
FAnews · 2019-09-16 · secondary
Capital market rulesNot found
No rules for Islamic funds, sukuk or other Islamic capital market products were found. Searches of the NBFIRA (securities regulator) and Botswana Stock Exchange websites returned no results for sukuk, shariah or Islamic.
Recent developments
- 2025-08-15The Banking Act, 2023 and its regulations came into force. The Act sets up two bank tiers and deposit-taking institutions; no Islamic banking provisions were found in it. source
- 2025-12-31The Bank of Botswana directory as at 31 December 2025 lists First National Bank of Botswana Limited among licensed commercial banks. source
Still open
Points we could not confirm at source yet.
- Absa Bank Botswana: press reports (Mmegi; Botswana Guardian via PressReader, Dec 2022) describe an Islamic fixed deposit launch, but no Islamic product page was found on absa.co.bw. Check again or ask the bank.
- Confirm B.I.C.B. Limited (Bryte Risk Services Botswana) on NBFIRA's list of licensed insurers.
- Check whether the Banking Regulations 2025 or any Bank of Botswana guideline mention Islamic windows.
Where we searched
- Bank of Botswana: Banking Act 2023 PDF, Banking Supervision Annual Report 2023, Directory of Financial Institutions as at 31 Dec 2025, press release of 24 Nov 2025, policies-and-guidelines page and Government Borrowing Strategy 2026/27: no Islamic banking, sukuk or Shari'ah terms (the only 'sharing' hits were unrelated)
- FNB Botswana own site: /islamic-finance/ index, banking-account, term-deposit-account and asset-finance pages read in raw HTML; Islamic Current Account terms PDF read
- Absa Bank Botswana own site (absa.co.bw): homepage, 157-URL sitemap (first entry dated 2019; later dates not checked) and fixed-term deposit page: no Islamic page found
- NBFIRA (nbfira.org.bw): WordPress search API for takaful, shariah and sukuk returned no results; 'islamic' only matched an unrelated security notice; list-of-regulated-entities page did not render its list; 2024 annual report link returned an HTML page, not the PDF
- Botswana Stock Exchange (bse.co.bw) site search for sukuk, shariah and islamic: 'Sorry, no results were found.'
- Bryte Risk Services Botswana own site (bryte.co.bw): home page and /shariah-compliant-insurance read
- Mmegi enews article 'Absa introduces Islamic Banking' and PressReader (Botswana Guardian, 2 Dec 2022): pages did not render text or returned 403