IslamicFinance.de

It is proposed that the current legislation in respect of sukuk and murabaha financing will be extended to listed companies, within the 2015 Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill (TLAB) that South Africa's Ministry of Finance recently published for public comment. South African Sharia-compliant financing arrangements have been introduced in stages. Changes were made to the tax code to introduce sukuk bond financing arrangements, but these were restricted to the Government and public entities. This is now intended to be available to listed corporates from January 1, 2016. It is also proposed in the 2015 TLAB that it will be possible for listed companies (in addition to banks, as at present) to engage in murabaha financing.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has agreed a € 76 million medium-term refinancing facility for Sedco Capital, advised by LaSalle Investment Management, for a mixed-use portfolio located predominately in Berlin. pbb is acting as sole lender and hedge provider for the facility. The mixed-use portfolio consists of eight German assets with a total lettable area of 65,770 sqm. Four of the largest assets, in terms of value, are located in Berlin and represent 75% of the portfolio's value.

Samina Akram left her job at Merrill Lynch International Bank eight years ago to start her own consultancy in London specializing in Shariah-compliant finance. Now she's seeking to empower women in male-dominated Islamic banking. What started as an informal ladies lunch club with other women in the industry will this week become the first global Women in Islamic & Ethical Finance Forum, a conference for more than 200 people at KPMG LLP's Canary Wharf offices in London. Akram is seeking to support women in an industry where they face more obstacles than in conventional banking because of religious conservatism, restrictions on mixed-gender working environments and stereotypes.

Standard Chartered Plc has selected global head of audit Julian Wynter as its chief executive officer for the United Arab Emirates. Wynter’s appointment has yet to be announced officially. Wynter, based in London and previously CEO of the bank’s Malaysian business, will replace Mohsin Nathani, who resigned in April. The bank has also appointed Sohail Akbar as CEO of its Islamic banking unit, known as Saadiq. Akbar is currently based in Malaysia as group chief operating officer of consumer banking and group Islamic banking. Standard Chartered is experiencing a management exodus after Bill Winters took over as CEO from Peter Sands last month.

Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called on Sunday for a united front among Middle Eastern nations to fight militancy, in his first regional trip since Iran reached an agreement with world powers on the country's nuclear programme - an agreement that raised fears among its Gulf Arab neighbours. Most Gulf Arab states are worried that Iran's July 14 accord will hasten detente between Tehran and Washington, emboldening Tehran to increase backing for Middle Eastern allies at odds with Gulf Arab countries. Most Sunni Muslim-ruled Gulf Arab states have long accused Tehran of interference in Arab affairs, alleging financial or armed support for political movements.

The Islamic insurance industry has developed remarkably over the last four years. Indeed, the number of Islamic insurance companies grew by nearly 73% between 2008 and 2010 (i.e. from 113 to 195), with these being based in more than 30 countries. Given its depth, the European insurance industry is an established and fully-equipped vehicle for the introduction of Islamic insurance operations. Furthermore, the European market is familiar with the concept of mutuality and cooperative insurance, which has many similarities with Islamic insurance. The regulatory reforms across Europe have helped to accelerate the expansion of Islamic insurance products and services in this region.

The resignation of Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, the chief executive officer of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd’s Islamic unit, added to clouds over Malaysia’s sukuk market, amid a probe into a state investment company and a renewed global commodity rout. He said that he resigned “to explore new opportunities”, declining to comment on speculation the decision was related to the investigation of 1Malaysia Development Bhd. CIMB, Malaysia’s lead Islamic bond underwriter for the past eight years, will now have to find and groom a replacement just as sukuk sales in the world’s biggest market dropped 36% in 2015 to a five-year low. Political uncertainty caused by the probes, falling commodity prices and a looming US interest-rate increase may deter issuers.

Islamic wealth management is going to become be the “new frontier” for the global Islamic finance industry as a growing number of Islamic high-net worth individuals keeps looking for Shariah-compliant types of investment. According to Thomson Reuters’ Global Islamic Asset Management Outlook 2015, Islamic funds – which are already a $60bn industry – are forecast to grow to at least $77bn by 2019, but the latent demand for Islamic funds is projected to grow even higher to $185bn. nitially, Europe led the initial drive of Islamic wealth management, but now other Shariah-based players have joined the market, especially in the GCC and Southeast Asia.

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are facing major challenges related to their demographic evolution and oil-dependent economic structure, most notably Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. National population in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia is expected to keep growing fast thus putting pressure on their economies to create a vast amount of jobs for newcomers, the report by Asiya Capital Investment Company said. Saudi authorities are aware of this problem for many years, and developed several "Saudization" initiatives of the labor market. The approach that Kuwait took to nationalize its private labor market, establishing minimum levels of Kuwaiti employees in each company.

GCC countries have experienced massive regulatory change with respect to the insurance sector over the past 12 months, a move that could result in shakeout in the sector, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said. While the new set of regulations are expected to have a positive long-term impact on the sector — in terms of better capital management, liquidity, internal controls and corporate governance — regional insurance firms, particularly Islamic insurers are facing rising costs. Despite year-on-year premium growth of over 10 per cent in most GCC markets, the GCC insurance sector is overcrowded. Competition is particularly high in the takaful segment.

The event "Women’s World Banking (WWB) Presents Making Finance Work for Women Summit, November 11-12, 2015, Berlin, Germany" is going to take place on November 11-12, 2015 in Berlin, Germany. The Making Finance Work for Women Summit is a two-day event that will focus on how women’s access to financial services relates to economic opportunity and macroeconomic growth. Sessions will cover best practices to serve the women’s market for financial services. The fee to attend the event is USD 500.Find more information on http://www.womensworldbanking.org/summit/.

Bahrain's Arab Insurance Group is in discussions to take full ownership of Dubai-based Islamic reinsurer Takaful Re, as regulatory moves add pressure on firms to consolidate. ARIG is planning to buy the remaining 46 percent of shares it doesn't already own in Takaful Re, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. Major shareholders of Takaful Re include Dubai Investments, Emirates Funds, Emirates Industrial Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, each holding a 10 percent stake. The regulatory measures have already prompted some consolidation steps, like Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Co raising its stake in local peer Takaful International to 40.9 percent.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank's (ADIB) 504 million dirham ($137.2 million) rights offer will begin on Aug. 23, after shareholders approved the capital-raising plan. The lender will issue 168 million new shares in order to support its growth. The issue price is 3.0 dirhams. Each existing shareholder will have the right to subscribe to 56 new shares for every 1,000 shares held at the end of trading on Aug. 13. Subscriptions will start on Aug. 23 and end on Sept. 10. ADIB posted a 10.5 rise in its second-quarter net profit on Wednesday, beating analysts' estimates as fee income grew.

Al Hilal Bank has reshuffled its board after the abrupt departure of its chairman and chief executive within a week of each other. The Abu Dhabi-based Islamic bank said a new board had been appointed under the chairmanship of Mohamed Abdullah Al Rumaithi, following the resignation of the former chairman Ahmed Ateeq Al Mazrouei on Monday. Mr Mazrouei’s decision to quit came just a week after the resignation of the chief executive Mohamed Jamil Berro. Sarie Asaad Arar, previously the bank’s chief business officer, was appointed last week as the acting chief executive. The bank said both resignations were for “personal reasons”, declining to give details.

The German and Iranian governments have decided to establish a joint banking committee. Officials from Berlin and Tehran will come together in September for the first meeting of the committee. The decision came after Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. together with Germany came to an understanding in the nuclear negotiations on July 14. Additionally, the U.N. Security Council unanimously accepted the draft resolution, which approves the nuclear agreement and stipulates the U.N. sanctions on Iran will be gradually lifted. $700 million of Iran's frozen assets abroad will be released every month after the sanctions are lifted. It is estimated that the total amount is around $150 billion.

Kyrgyzstan hopes to use Islamic finance to attract foreign investment. The Kyrgyz government approved the project on introduction of Sukuk, State Secretary Abduhalik Shamshiyev said at the board meeting of the State Service for Financial Market Regulation and Supervision. International law firm Simmons & Simmons and the Kyrgyz Republic signed an agreement in May 2014 to provide consultancy services for the development of laws and regulations, supporting the introduction of Takaful and Sukuk in the Kyrgyz Republic. The consultancy services were funded under a technical assistance grant provided by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 118.15458 points, up from 117.85307 at the end of last month and 115.79726 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 116.75730 against 116.56666 at end-June and 113.69014 at end-2014. Sukuk in the pipeline include: Malaysia's West Coast Expressway Sdn Bhd plans a guaranteed 1 billion ringgit ($265 million) sukuk murabaha programme to fund a highway project. Bank Muscat has delayed plans to launch a 500 million rial ($1.3 billion) sukuk programme after the central bank rejected the proposal. urkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi has invited banks to pitch for a potential dollar-denominated sukuk to bolster its supplementary capital.

Warba Bank is one of the initial investors in a US-focused real estate strategy managed by the Wafra Investment Advisory Group, Inc. Warba Bank has announced that the has acquired the commercial office building “The Nathaniel” in New York. Warba Bank’s co-investors include German insurance companies and pension funds. “The Nathaniel” is the first transaction by the fund. The building was completed in September 2014 and is a Class A+ nine story building consisting of 85 residential units with luxurious amenities and 18,000 square feet of retail space. It is fully occupied and located in upmarket area of East Village Manhattan, New York.

The chairman of Abu Dhabi's government-owned Al Hilal Bank has resigned, a week after the chief executive quit. Ahmed Ateeq al-Mazrouei, chairman since 2008, has left for personal reasons. Senior board member Mohamed Abdullah al-Rumaithi has been appointed to succeed him. Last week Al Hilal's chief executive Mohamed Jamil Berro resigned, also citing personal reasons, after seven years with the bank. Al Hilal's profit for 2014 plunged to 90 million dirhams ($24.5 million) from 442 million dirhams in 2013 because of large loan impairments, according to the lender's latest financial statement. The bank's total assets grew to 41.4 billion dirhams from 38.7 billion dirhams.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index is at 118.01254 points, up from 117.85307 at the end of last month and 115.79726 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 116.67223 against 116.56666 at end-June and 113.69014 at end-2014. Sukuk in the pipeline include the following: Malaysia's West Coast Expressway Sdn Bhd plans a guaranteed 1 billion ringgit ($265 million) sukuk murabaha programme to fund a highway project. Bank Muscat has delayed plans to launch a 500 million rial ($1.3 billion) sukuk programme after the central bank rejected the proposal. Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi has invited banks to pitch for a potential dollar-denominated sukuk to bolster its supplementary capital.