IslamicFinance.de

UAE-based mortgage lenders, Tamweel and Amlak are preparing contingency plans and open talks with alternative buyers should their government backed merger be abandoned. This may include the two Islamic lenders merging and then combining with a commercial bank, or the two being acquired separately, according to a source.

The merger proposal between IBQ and al khaliji banks has reached a new stage following the latter’s support to the idea, al khaliji chairman and managing director Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal bin Thani al-Thani has said.

On why the two banks are considering a merger, Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal bin Thani al-Thani said: “The Qatar market is small and there are too many banks here… that’s why we want to merge. We have more banks and branches per capita in Qatar than in any other Gulf States.

“Having said that, I must tell you we have not reached a stage where we can say we are merging. We are exploring, talking and looking at the possibilities.

“But if the merger takes place, the new entity will be the third or fourth largest bank in Qatar.”
Earlier, al khaliji’s board of directors has approved the “initiation of merger talks” with IBQ. The decision was made during a meeting of al khaliji’s board of directors in Doha recently.

Al khaliji is Qatar’s second largest retail bank by paid-up capital and a member of the Qatar Exchange 20 Index with approximately QR17.5bn in total assets and QR9.2bn in customer deposits.

Deutsche Bank AG announced today the formation of Deutsche Gulf Finance, a joint venture Shariah-compliant home financing company owned 40% by the Bank’s Riyadh Branch and 60% by a group of prominent Saudi-based investors, led by Fahad Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Rajhi.

The Company has an initial capitalization of approximately USD110 million, and at first will provide Shariah-compliant home financing for properties located in Saudi Arabia, with plans to expand its operations into Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait over time. Deutsche Gulf Finance has commenced financing completed units as well as those under construction on individual lots or at real estate developments.

The launch of Deutsche Gulf Finance comes at a pivotal time for consumer finance in Saudi Arabia. According to Deutsche Bank Research, the total outstanding home finance provided by the private sector in Saudi Arabia aggregates to less than 1% of GDP compared with well over 50% in most developed countries, and approximately 6% in Kuwait and 7% in the UAE.

National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the country's largest lender and the biggest shareholder in Islamic lender Boubyan Bank, has raised its has received the Kuwaiti central bank's approval last month to raise its 40 percent stake in Boubyan to a maximum of 60 percent. The approval is valid for three months, starting March 22.

Boubyan bank, which complies with Islam's ban on interest, competes with larger rival Kuwait Finance House and Kuwait International Bank.

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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Gulf Finance House (GFH), the leading Middle Eastern Islamic investment bank announced today that the Board has appointed Mr. Ted Pretty as Group Deputy CEO of the Bank.

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

The download is free of charge.