The Syrian President has issued a decree allowing the establishment of financial leasing companies in Syria.
 
Decree 88/2010, enacted on October 2, covers the establishment of both conventional leasing companies and Sharia-compliant firms, known as Ijara.
 
The text provides the framework for the establishment of leasing companies and for the broad rules regulating their operations. It allows foreign companies to establish fully-owned branches, something not available for banks and insurance firms. Foreign banks are only allowed to open representative offices in Syria.
 
The leasing law had been expected for a while and is seen as an additional tool to provide financing to Syrian households and businesses.
 
The law sets the minimum capital requirements for leasing companies at 500 million SYP (10.6 million USD) and 750 million SYP (15.9 million USD) for conventional and Islamic institutions respectively.
 
The ownership ceiling for physical and moral persons is set at 5 and 40 percent respectively. Moral persons will need the prior approval of the Central Bank. Foreign individuals and companies can own a combined maximum level of 60 percent of the shares of any given company.
 
Leasing companies will work under the supervision of the Central bank of Syria. Companies that provide leasing in the real estate sector will also be under the supervision of the Mortgage Finance Supervisory Authority (MFSA), which was established at the end of last year.
 
Leasing companies will have to abide by the Company and Trade laws.