IslamicFinance.de

An equity-based and Asean-centric Islamic financial products will be launched by OSK-UOB Islamic Fund Management Bhd being granted the Capital Markets Services Licence by the Securities Commission.

The partnership between UOB Asset Management Ltd (UOBAM) and OSK-UOB Unit Trust Management Bhd (OSK-UOB UTM) will leverage on network capabilities of both parties to scale up their resources and commitment in offering a wider, comprehensive and innovative set of Islamic investment solutions.

A company part-owned by the Saudi royal family, Jadwa Investment and a European property investor, CIT, have purchased the King's Reach Tower on London's south bank worth £60m and plans to further invest £500m in the UK real estate market. King's Reach Tower is the fourth joint Jadwa-CIT acquirement in which plans are well under way for redevelopment.

Fadi Tabbara, Jadwa Investment's chief investment officer, said "The pound exchange rate is low, which makes investment in the UK inviting, and the legal structure is simple and transparent."

Both companies are targeting a return of 20 per cent or more on their King's Reach investment. Jadwa has plans to also to invest a further £300m or more in mixed-use, residential and commercial property in the UK.

Al Mal Capital announced that it has received approval from the Capital Market Authority (CMA) in Saudi Arabia to expand its range of activities in the Kingdom to include Asset Management and Investment Banking, alongside its existing Brokerage business. And hence will change the company name from "Al Mal Securities Saudi" to "Al Mal Capital Saudi".

Al Mal Capital Saudi, the multi-line, newly integrated business will serve clients across the spectrum of investment offerings: from underwriting, advising, arranging placement and public offerings, to performing a custody function on behalf of clients, to managing innovative fund products which take advantage of the exciting opportunities available in the exciting Saudi Arabian equity and debt markets, both public and private.

Naser Nabulsi, Executive Chairman of Al Mal Capital PSC said, "This is a landmark moment for Al Mal Capital. An expanded presence in Saudi Arabia, the largest regional market, is a key tenet in our strategy to expand our core business offering across GCC and the broader Middle East."

Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Bhd (KFHMB) aims to sell 50kg of gold under its newly-launched KFH Gold Account - i by year-end, says its Retail and Consumer Banking Head Attar Salleh. Since the soft launch of the account two-and-a-half-month ago, the bank had received more than RM1.08 million and transacted nine kilogrammes of gold.

The KFH Gold Account-i, is the first Shariah-based gold account offered in Malaysia where KFHMB sells physical gold to the customer. Through the account, customers are able to purchase and invest in gold in a convenient and secure way. Customers have a choice to either collect the gold or keep it with the bank for safe custody at no charge. Withdrawal of gold can be made in denominations of one, five, 10 and 50 grams

Attar also said customers can start investing from as low as 10 grams of gold and must maintain a minimum balance of two grams. He said the gold price is about RM125 per gram.

Indonesia's finance ministry raised 925 billion rupiah ($102.6 million) in sukuk auctions on Tuesday, slightly below target, to fund the state budget deficit despite the ministry's expectations to raise 1 trillion rupiah.

Incoming bids amounted to 2.36 trillion rupiah, or more than twice the amount raised by the ministry as demand was especially strong for the five-year sukuk, with a bid-to-cover ratio of 7.23.

The five-year sukuk was priced to yield 8.31 percent, whereas comparable conventional debt currently yields about 8 percent. Indonesian bonds have attracted strong demand from foreign investors seeking high-yielding assets.

Press Release

Today sees the launch of a new Journal on Islamic finance from dedicated Islamic finance media entity Yasaar Media.

The Journal, called So Far – the Journal of Strategic Thinking in Islamic Finance, is written and edited by members of an Islamic finance Think Tank and is modelled on traditional academic journals. The difference with So Far is that the members of the Think Tank are predominantly practitioners rather than academics.
Member of the Think Tank are drawn from the ranks of committed Islamic finance professionals around the world and range from the Gulf and the Far East to the USA and Europe.

Each issue of So Far is dedicated to a single topic of core importance to the Islamic finance industry – and the launch issue looks at the thorny issue of the problems facing the Sukuk market. Unlike many other journals So Far is distributed free in PDF format and is available from a variety of sources including Yasaar Media thus guaranteeing maximum readership and exposure.

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The Financial Times produced a special looking into the Future of Islamic Finance.

The download is free of charge.