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The Middle East Healthcare Company (Saudi German Hospital) received Sharia-compliant credit facilities worth SAR 305 million from Al Rajhi Bank. A total of SAR 120 million of the financing is revolving loans that will be renewed periodically, while the remaining sum of SAR 185 million will be paid within six years. The first amount is short-term financing that aims to cover working capital needs whilst the second sum is a medium-term loan that will be used in financing the healthcare provider's digital transformation. The loan is guaranteed by a promissory note.

As a respected elder figure among the Muslim grassroots, Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin was initially expected to play a significant role in enacting policies that could benefit the country’s majority-Muslim population. But analysts have suggested that Ma’ruf could still do more to promote the sharia economy and finance. The government launched a masterplan for the sharia economy last year, which provides a five-year development roadmap. The plan hopes to transform Indonesia into a net producer of halal goods and services, instead of merely being a big market for them. According to analysts, Ma’ruf should encourage the state to focus more on developing the sharia economy, particularly in providing stimulus programs among sharia-based businesses and strengthening sharia institutions.

Banking has fueled racial inequity and social harm in many ways and for a long time. Before the Fair Housing Act passed in 1968, banks regularly contributed to racial segregation and wealth inequality in the US by refusing to make loans to Black Americans or in neighborhoods that were predominantly Black. In the 2000s, Black and Latin Americans who were able to purchase homes and gain some wealth were disproportionately targeted for high-cost predatory loans. When the crash came, the nation’s already enormous racial wealth gap grew even larger. Banks continue to fund fossil fuel firms, prisons, detention centers, and payday lenders. Most organizations and individuals are unknowingly funding these activities with their deposits. The Beneficial State Foundation established the Equitable Bank Standards that clearly define both mission-aligned and harmful practices of banks. With the nonprofit sector accounting for over $3 trillion in assets, aligning money with values could make a huge difference.

The Digitization In Banking Market report focuses on the comprehensive analysis of current and future prospects of the Digitization In Banking industry. Top Key Vendors of this Market includes: Islamic Insurance Company, JamaPunji, AMAN, Salama, Standard Chartered, Takaful Brunei Darussalam, Allianz, Prudential BSN Takaful, Zurich Malaysia, Takaful Malaysia and Qatar Islamic Insurance Company. The report can be purchased at https://www.a2zmarketresearch.com/buy?reportId=64965

According to a recent analysis by asset management firm Arabesque, Shariah-compliant companies scored better than the overall group in 19 out of 22 environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) categories. For the vast majority of 22 business topics, Shariah-compliant companies outperform the wider dataset, and most strongly in the areas of labour rights, human rights, environmental management and water use. One of the most recent companies to adopt the AAOIFI Code of Ethics for Islamic Finance Professionals is Ethis Global, which believes it is the first Islamic fintech to do so. The Malaysian social crowdfunding platform is also a signatory to the the United Nations Global Compact (GC).

The Islamic fintech space is growing in Malaysia, with recent entrants and an expanding consumer base. Government support and related initiatives are helping to drive the sector’s development. There are currently some 26 Islamic fintechs operating out of the country. While Malaysians have the possibility to bank in a Shariah-compliant manner, Islamic fintech has not yet reflected the same range of services that conventional fintech has offered, particularly in North America, Europe and China. Such gaps in the market have yet to be tapped, but there is a ready market for such services. A new digital bank could drive sectoral development, with Bank Negara Malaysia granting five licenses, with one potentially an Islamic provider.

Shariah-compliant investments are resilient and even tend to perform better than their conventional peers in troubled times. This was proven during the first half of the year, when the average returns of global and Malaysian equity shariah funds were higher than those of their conventional counterparts. Ismitz Matthew De Alwis, executive director and CEO of Kenanga Investors, notes that shariah funds in general have outperformed due to their lack of exposure to the banking sector and a higher weighting in defensive sectors such as healthcare and telecommunications. Despite signs of improving economic data, De Alwis expects the equity market to remain volatile. As the market grapples with the risk of surging Covid-19 infections, governments could be forced to reimpose restrictions on business activities.

Indonesian personal finance assistant PT Solusi Finansialku plans to launch a dedicated Islamic feature to capture a broader base of investors. Finansialku currently has more than six certified financial planners focused on Shariah-compliant investing but lacks a dedicated Islamic section on its app and platform. Its app has been downloaded 203,000 times since April 2017 and it is targeting 4 million downloads by 2022. Finansialku started in 2013 and only digitalised in 2016, moving its services online and to an app. Its advisors are CFPs certified by the national authority the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB).

Dubai made a rare foray into public bond markets, revealing that its debt burden is now a lot smaller than estimated by analysts only months ago. The emirate’s outstanding direct debt stood at 123.5 billion dirhams ($33.6 billion) as of June 30. That’s about 28% of last year’s gross domestic product. Dubai's economy is heavily dependent on tourism, trade and retail, sectors hardest hit by the emergency. The global pandemic forced Dubai to delay this year’s World Expo. The government revised this year’s budget revenue to 44.2 billion dirhams down more than 30% from what it originally envisaged. It also decreased its projected expenditure to 56.2 billion dirhams for 2020, leaving a deficit of 11.9 billion dirhams. Dubai owes a total of $20 billion to the Abu Dhabi government and the UAE central bank, an amount it used to support strategic entities that required financial assistance.

The targets set by the UAE to prepare the country’s economy for a post-hydrocarbon era have been very ambitious. As part of its economic diversification actions, the UAE has undertaken to increase the clean energy contribution to the total energy mix from 0.2% in 2014, to 24% by 2021. In the UAE Energy Strategy 2050, a target is set of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 70% by 2050 and increasing the use of clean energy to meet 50% of the country’s energy needs by the same year. The Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 similarly sets out the emirate’s aim of transforming Dubai into a global clean energy centre. These goals will require considerable capital investment. However, while other centres for Islamic finance have seen a growing number of responsible finance sukuk issuances, there have been noticeably fewer issuances in the UAE. Mobilising private sector finance through responsible financing activities will be critical in helping the UAE government to meet its extensive sustainability targets.

Islamic banks have emerged stronger after each monetary disaster which uncovered the weaknesses of the traditional banking methods. Millennium Info Answer FZ-LLC (MISL) launched its operations on the Dubai Worldwide Metropolis to assist Islamic banks to migrate to their new-generation core banking solution called Ababil. Ababil is an end-to-end superior core-banking solution covering Company and Retail Banking, Funding Banking, Financing Origination System, Buyer Info File (CIF), Commerce Finance, Treasury Administration, Agent Banking, Offshore Banking, Revenue Distribution, Accounting & MIS, Payroll, Drilled Down Reporting, and so on. Along with Ababil, MISL is offering its newest human resources solution Sylvia and risk-based auditing solution Tahqiq.

The Authority of Social Contribution, Ma’an, is urging all social entrepreneurs in the UAE and wider MENA region to complete the online application, as the Authority announces an extension for registrations until 12th September. The teams shortlisted for the Social Incubator programme will aim to strengthen the interactions and create stronger emotional bonding between parents, children, relatives, the elderly and couples across the Emirate and highlight the importance of family values. Ma’an will shortlist and support 10 winning social start-ups, who will then undergo a 90 day training programme and develop their ideas into business ventures. Ma’an will invest more than AED 2 million in total in this cycle with the successful applicants also having access to milestone-based funding, mentorship, office space, business expertise and investors.

The Islamic finance sector is growing, and as the global community responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, key stakeholders are working together to address the challenges. Islamic finance will continue to grow over the next decade across asset classes and markets, creating a unique window of opportunity to align components of its investments with the UN SDGs. Impact investing and Islamic finance are complementary and compatible. The UAE and the GCC overall are key hubs for Islamic finance. Further awareness is needed to make Islamic finance leaders and GCC governments to align in this movement, and to continue to consider how they can most effectively capitalize on impact investing to generate positive returns whilst making the ongoing positive impact on society.

An important Islamic imperative is prevention of concentration of wealth among a few so that wealth circulates widely to enhance shared prosperity. In contemporary economic discourse inequality and concentration of wealth have emerged as among key causes of instability and crisis. Unfortunately, while Islamic finance has emerged as a Shari’ah-compliant industry, it does not seem to be connected with the Islamic concern about inequality and concentration of wealth. This research paper illuminates the pertinent issues in light of the experience of Bahrain as one of the hubs of Islamic banking and finance.

In July, a group of 83 of the world’s richest people calling itself Millionaires for Humanity urged governments to increase taxes on them to help deal with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Their idea, the latest version of a wealth tax was received as almost revolutionary. Although wealth taxes may seem bold and innovative, however, the concept is almost as old as money itself. Since the ancient Greeks there have been wealth taxes in various countries right through to the present day. More recently than the ancient Greeks, a wealth tax has been foundational to Islamic practice. The zakat functions as a 2.5% wealth tax on liquid assets. Modern wealth taxes have often failed because they haven’t learned from their historical equivalents.

Kuwait-based Alafco Aviation Lease and Finance is to delay delivery of its aircraft order from Airbus as a result of the impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic on the aviation industry. Although the number of aircraft impacted is unclear, reports suggest Airbus currently has 43 A320neo and ten A321neo jets on order to be delivered. Future pre-delivery payments between the company and Airbus will be realigned, along with a new delivery schedule, which will result in rescheduling the upcoming pre-delivery payments for this year and the upcoming three years to year 2024 and onward. Earlier this month it was revealed that Alafco had ended a $336 million legal dispute with US aerospace giant Boeing over a cancelled order.

Arcapita Group and Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding sold their ownership stake in Abu Dhabi-based NAS Neuron Health Services. The two companies partnered to acquire an equity stake in NAS United Healthcare Services in 2017. Umair Nizami is the Managing Director of Neuron, as well as CEO of Dubai Wing. NAS Neuron is one of the largest private TPAs of medical claims in the GCC region.

ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing and shariah-compliant investing share similar objectives in that they promote stewardship and societal value creation. However, the two strategies are often viewed as distinctly separate approaches by investors. According to the president of asset management firm Saturna, Shahariah Shaharudin, bringing together the two investing methodologies can do much to invigorate the Islamic asset management industry. As both ESG and shariah-compliant funds are considered defensive asset classes, they performed relatively well during the recent market downturn triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bitcoin Association has joined the inaugural Islamic Fintech Week 2020 as a sponsor and ecosystem partner. The three-day event will bring together stakeholders, regulators and innovators to chart the future of financial technology in the Islamic world. This year’s IFW2020 will be hosted in Malaysia from September 7-10. It will feature a themed series of panel debates, roundtable sessions and masterclasses. Topics on the agenda for the virtual event will include the role of Shariah in Islamic fintech, how Malaysia can become a global finance hub, fintech’s role in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the social impact of Muslim women in finance. Digital currencies and blockchain will also feature heavily in the event, with various guests set to address how they can be integrated into the Islamic finance industry.

Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) and Islamic Finance news (IFN) have announced their collaboration to provide insights and analysis for Islamic finance worldwide. IFN readers will gain access to Moody's exclusive content covering Islamic finance, ranging from sukuk issuance trends in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to the latest trends in Islamic banking. Moody's is a global integrated risk assessment firm that empowers organizations to make better decisions. IFN is the leading Islamic finance news and solutions provider in the world, housing the largest pool of Islamic finance-related articles and coverage.