IslamicFinance.de

Warba Bank reported a net profit growth of 633 per cent to reach KWD 315,000 for the first half of 2015 compared to KWD 43,000 for the first six months of 2014. Total income grew by 37 per cent to reach KWD 11.17 million. The strong operating performance was supported by all business units within the bank. As at June 30, 2015, Warba Bank’s total assets increased 30 per cent to reach KWD 645 million as a result of the bank’s aggressive geographical expansion strategy in local and regional markets, combined with investments in low-risk and high quality assets. The bank’s financing portfolio has also showed a growth of 50 per cent to reach KWD 457 million compared to the first half of 2014. This enabled the bank’s default finances ratio to reach 0.24 per cent.

Kuwait Turkey Bank (Kuveyt Turk) opened a branch in the German city of Frankfurt on Tuesday to be the first Islamic financial institution in the Eurozone. Hamad Al-Marzouq, Board Chairman of Kuwait Finance House (KFH), which owns the largest share in Kuveyt Turk, said he was proud to see the first Islamic bank operational in the eurozone. Kuveyt Turk seeks to encourage five million Muslims as well as non-Muslim clients in Germany to use the bank's services, he said. Kuveyt Turk was active in the German market since 2004 but was only capable of practicing partial banking operation in 2010. It was allowed to carry out full banking services in Germany last year.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) CEO Tirad Mahmoud said the bank was seeking to invest in Islamic banking in Morocco. ADIB has applied for approval from the Morrocan Central Bank for approval to invest in participatory banking in Morocco by 2016. Back in March this year, Abdellatif Jouahri, Governor of Bank Al Maghrib, had announced 2016 as the year of commencement of operations of the first participation banks in the Kingdom. ADIB has also filed applications for licenses in Algeria, Libya and Tunisia, said Tirad Mahmoud. Emirates Islamic has also filed an application with the Central Bank while Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group is working in a joint venture with BMCE Bank to offer Shari’ah-compliant financial solutions.

The National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), the lead government agency tasked to spearhead the Philippine Halal industry, in partnership with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), is now pushing for a new legislation on Islamic banking. Secretary Yasmin Busran-Lao of NCMF told reporters Wednesday at the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the first Mindanao Halal Festival that they are now furnishing the draft of a bigger legal framework for Islamic banking. She said that part of the plan is the conversion of Al Ahmana bank in the Philippines to a fully Shari'ah compliant bank.

Bank Muscat, Oman's largest lender, has delayed plans to launch a 500 million rial ($1.3 billion) sukuk programme after the central bank rejected the proposal, a source at the bank said. The regulator informed Bank Muscat in writing that it would not accept the plans in their current form, which involved the lender asking for a single approval to issue 100 million rials a year for the next five years, the source said, adding that the central bank had concerns over plans to use the sukuk proceeds to increase personal lending. The bank will restructure the sukuk proposal and file for the approval again. The plans for the sukuk to be issued in various tranches was backed by Bank Muscat's shareholders in March.

The Shariah-compliant banking sector in Malaysia, already among the largest in the world by assets, is forecast to grow at an average annual rate of 18% over the next years to reach a value of $296.26bn in 2019. This is the prognosis contained in the Malaysia Islamic Finance Report 2015 revealed at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on June 30. The report, commissioned by Malaysia’s CIMB Islamic and produced in partnership with Jeddah-based Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions based in Manama, Bahrain and Thomson Reuters, also projects that takaful contributions in Malaysia will grow at an average 18.2% year-on-year to reach a market share of 17.96% of total insurance premiums by 2019, equal to $5.51bn.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and BankIslami have clarified a news story titled “SBP grants Rs20b to BankIslami”. The SBP said it is a normal practice for central banks to provide funds to banks whenever they are under liquidity stress or to meet unexpected deposit withdrawal requests. Liquidity support up to Rs15 billion was offered to BankIslami in anticipation of heavy withdrawal by the depositors of defunct KASB Bank after its amalgamation with the former. This facility, valid for 180 days, is fully secured by the sukuk held by BankIslami. BankIslami said the support it received from the SBP had been used to pay off the depositors of KASB Bank, which to date amounted to more than Rs22 billion.

Abu Dhabi-headquartered Shariah-compliant lender Al Hilal Bank has announced resignation of Mohamed Jamil Berro as the CEO, a position he has held since the bank’s establishment in 2008. Berro explained that his resignation is due to personal reasons. The bank’s Board of Directors further revealed that Sarie Asaad Arar will be appointed as Acting Group CEO, who currently holds the position of Chief Business Officer at Al Hilal Bank, and possess over 25 years of banking experience in the UAE.

Eskan Bank has appointed Securities & Investment Company (SICO) as lead arranger for the first real estate investment trust (REIT) on the Bahrain Bourse. Eskan Bank 's REIT will consist of two income-generating and unleveraged properties currently owned by Bahrain Property Musharaka Trust (BPMT) which was formed in May 2011, in collaboration with reputable institutional investors and high net worth individuals. As arranger, SICO is responsible for managing the entire process. The Sharia-compliant REIT is expected to have a total value of BD20 million, with a tranche that will be offered to the public through the initial public offering (IPO) that is planned to take place later this year.

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) beat the average forecast of analysts as it reported a 27 percent jump in second-quarter net profit on Tuesday. The Islamic lender made a net profit of 494.7 million riyals ($131.9 million) during the period, compared with 389.8 million riyals in the same period a year ago. The lender did not provide a detailed breakdown of its earnings. Qatar Islamic Bank posted net profit of 895.1 million riyals in the first half of the year, higher than 725.2 million riyals it reported a year-ago, according to its statement to the bourse.

John Sandwick of Safa Invest discussed the opportunity of Islamic Asset Management seeing great potential and describing it as the new frontier for Islamic Banking. He stated the rise in oil prices which began their ascent in 2002 from $9 to $150 per barrel also witnessed a parallel growth in Islamic Banking, as the oil producing economies of the Gulf and South East Asia benefited from large inflows of capital some of which helped fund an emerging Islamic banking market. One sector which has failed to evolve as fast is Islamic Asset Management, an area which according to Mr Sandwick, Switzerland with its historical ties to the Asian and Gulf market it is primed to develop.

There is a crowdfunding effort called #ShatilAlive that's designed to raise funds for the Basmeh wa Zeitooneh community organization and arts and cultural center located in the heart of Beirut's Shatila refugee camp. Crammed into one square kilometer of urban space, some 40,000 refugees are now living on top of each other in Shatila camp, all but ignored by the Lebanese government. Basmeh wa Zeitooneh started as a volunteer-run collective, but over the past three years it has bourgeoned into a full-fledged organization, offering everything from art workshops and theater classes for students to day care and medical assistance for refugee families. The organization infuses Shatila camp with artistic energy.

Jordan said last month it was going to issue its first ever sovereign sukuk soon. The long anticipated issuance is expected to rake in some JD400 million to finance real estate projects. The sovereign issuance is expected to be a dinar-dominated offering. Though Jordan passed the Islamic Finance Sukuk Law in 2012, allowing both public and private entities to issue sukuk, it was only in April that the government vetted the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector to support the country’s maiden security bonds issuance. Only one corporate sukuk had been issued in the Kingdom before: a seven-year JD85 million security launched by Al Rahji Cement in 2011.

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) announced that it will increase its funding of SDG related activities through its ten year strategy framework, from $80 billion recorded during the MDGs, to $150 billion over the next 15 years (2016-2030). IsDB made the announcement on the sidelines of the United Nations’ Third International Conference on Financing for Development, in Addis Ababa 13-16 July. Islamic finance can serve as a strong and non-traditional source of financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) according to global experts speaking during a seminar organised by the IsDB. Johannes Majewski, Program Coordinator, GIZ, the German Corporation extolled the strength of Islamic finance through its emphasis on asset based financing and its focus on common welfare.

The nonconsolidated loss of Bank Asya in the first quarter of this year was TL 5.8 million ($2.2 million), according to the income statement the bank released on the Public Disclosure Platform. The bank had made a TL 40.81 million net profit in the same period of last year. Bank Asya's net loss by the end of 2014 was TL 813 million. While the total assets of the bank were TL 23.2 billion in the first quarter of 2014, this figure decreased to TL 11.97 billion in the same period of 2015. On May 29, Turkish banking regulators approved the decision to seize all of Bank Asya's shares due to the bank's failure to fulfill its obligations despite the measures taken by Turkey's banking watchdog, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

CIMB Islamic Bank’s chief executive officer and board member Badlisyah Abdul Ghani will resign all his posts effective Aug 15, 2015. Badlisyah also heads CIMB Group Bhd’s Islamic banking and finance franchise. In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, CIMB Islamic Bank’s board of directors announced it has elected Mohd Shafri Shahul Hamid as the person-in-charge of the bank and agreed for the group nomination and remuneration committee to start the process of identifying Badlisyah’s replacement. Badlisyah courted controversy last week when he questioned the validity of documents used by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in its recent reports which claimed billions of ringgit were deposited into accounts belonging to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

A new competition to support start-ups and businesses in the Islamic digital economy will be inaugurated at the Global Islamic Economy Summit (GIES 2015) on 5-6 October. The ‘Innovation 4 Impact’ competition will be hosted by Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA) and the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC), in collaboration with Thomson Reuters. Also working with the American Muslim Consumer Consortium, it seeks to support start-ups and businesses in the Islamic digital economy and serve as an incubator for SMEs across the world. The competition is open for applications from any company or entrepreneur with an idea or business venture in the following sectors: E-commerce, mobile computing, cloud computing, big data, hyper-converged platforms, and new media and social media.

Saudi Arabia's Arab National Bank has received regulatory approval to raise 2 billion riyals ($533.28 million)through sukuk which will enhance its supplementary capital. The kingdom's seventh-largest lender by assets will privately place the Tier 2 sukuk with a tenor of 10 years although it allows the issuer to redeem the security after five years. Arab National Bank joins a string of Saudi Arabian banks that have sought to replenish their capital reserves in the last couple of years by issuing capital-boosting bonds and bonus shares following a period of strong lending growth. Capital reserves are high in Saudi Arabia due to the kingdom's conservative regulatory standards.

Demand for Islamic bonds issued by the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp (IILM) is growing, signaling widening popularity for a programme designed as a cross-border tool for Islamic banks to manage their liquidity needs. The Kuala Lumpur-based body is a likely beneficiary of a decision by Malaysia's central bank to wind down its own sales of sukuk, which could in turn spur the IILM to expand its $3 billion issuance programme. A boost in demand could help widen the membership base of the IILM and encourage regulators across Asia and the Middle East to approve the use of IILM sukuk by their Islamic banks. Growing popularity of IILM sukuk could also improve its secondary market activity.

Bahrain will not regain its status as the region’s leading financial centre amid fierce competition in the Arabian Gulf, thus hurting its property market, says the latest country report by Business Monitor International (BMI). The country’s historical position as the regional centre for Islamic finance is being challenged by Dubai, while banks in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been competing strongly against the banking sectors in Bahrain and Dubai, according to the market research company. Even so, Bahrain’s construction sector is set to continue growing at about 3.6 per cent over the next four years, it said. And public sector investment will finance infrastructure projects.