IslamicFinance.de

In 2007, Bank Aljazira's conversion into the first fully sharia-compliant institution in Saudi Arabia was complete.This transformation required changes to BAJ's infrastructure, offerings and legal environment, among other aspects. Moreover, investments in product development as well as branch and ATM networks were made. The bank simultaneously increased its paid-up capital to SAR 3bn, which came entirely from the bank’s profits. In order to ensure compliance with all sharia banking and financing principles; this led to the formation of a Sharia Advisory Board, which is composed of a number of scholars specialised in sharia-compliant banking. Besides, BAJ launched a SAR 100m programme named Khair Aljazira Le Ahl Aljazira which aims at providing financial support to various charitable societies.

The Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB), the UK’s only wholly Sharia compliant retail bank, has been acquired by Al Rayan (UK), the UK subsidiary of Masraf Al Rayan (MAR). The acquisition follows a cash offer made on 28 November 2013 for which MAR received over 95 per cent of valid shareholder acceptances, together with approval of the Prudential Regulation Authority for MAR to take control of IBB. MAR considers the acquisition an opportunity to expand its footprint and introduce its range of products to a fertile market with potential for continued growth. It will also enable Masraf Al Rayan to offer its existing Gulf-based customers additional services as they expand their activities into the UK.

Assets held by the takaful sector in Brunei recently have grown significantly while those of conventional types of insurance have been declining, the monthly report from Brunei's monetary authority AMBD showed. In the year ended Sept. 30, takaful assets rose 21 percent to 425 million Brunei dollars ($336 million). Conventional insurers saw a drop of 1.3 percent in assets during the same 12-month period. At end-September, Brunei's takaful market accounted for 33 percent of total insurance assets. Although insurance assets have seen rapid growth in Brunei in the past decade, industry players say there is still poor awareness about insurance among its population. Brunei has four takaful operators.

DRB–Hicom has yet to finalise the new party for its divestment of a 30 per cent stake in its banking unit, Bank Muamalat Malaysia. The dilution of the stake in the country’s third largest Islamic lender has been a prolonged process as the conglomerate is looking into a strategic partnership or an exercise that could add value and increase the bank’s penetration into the Islamic financial business in Malaysia. It was reported earlier that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) had mandated DRB-Hicom to dilute some of its 70 per cent stake in Bank Muamalat. It was also reported that DRB-Hicom had negotiated with Affin Holdings on a potential acquisition but talks were called off due to pricing issues. The bank remains sidelined as it currently has no new products to introduce or new branches to launch.

Federal Finance Minister of Pakistan Ishaq Dar Wednesday urged to further push the process of Islamisation of banking and finance in the country at the roundtable conference on ‘Potential of Islamic banking in Pakistan’. He said that a committee had already been constituted on the subject with a fairly broad mandate assigned for the realisation of its cherished goal. The committee which would suggest a road map and timeframe for progression of various phases of Islamic banking in the country by December 31, 2014, has initially set the following key areas of investigations: removal of all difficulties being faced by the existing Islamic financial institutions in the operations vis-à-vis conventional institutions and design of new products that may enable government to conduct its resource mobilisation operations through Shariah compliant methods.

Bahrain-based investment firm Gulf Finance House (GFH) has agreed a partial sale of its stake in English football club Leeds United. GFH said the sale was agreed with British investors, whose details the firm did not specify. The investment firm did not provide details on the stake value or the size of the stake sold. GFH bought Leeds United in December 2012 through its Dubai-based subsidiary, GFH Capital, but its financial statements showed that the firm disposed off more than half of its holding less than six months later.

Across the globe governments and corporates are attempting to take advantage of low interest rates caused by the US Federal Reserve’s extraordinary bond buying programme, locking in long term borrowing at peppercorn rates. The central bank of Qatar hopes to issue a mixture of conventional and Islamic government debt with a face value of $6.6bn. The debt programme will be at the shorter end of the yield curve and will be sold in three and five year tenors. Just under half the issuance will be Sukuk, with the rest in conventional instruments. Managing duration is very important for bond fund managers as it allows them to determine the risk on their total bond portfolio for a given move in interest rates. A longer duration bond will move more in value than a bond with a shorter duration for each 0.01 per cent (or 1 basis point) move in interest rates.

The US Federal Reserve will likely continue trimming its asset purchases by $10bn a month – from $85bn a month – until it stops altogether later this year.This will mean that historically low interest rates and fixed income yields could rise as the globe’s economies start to recover and inflation kicks in. Borrowers want to lock in those low rates now and this means a rush to issue. Data from Bloomberg show that planned Sukuk sales in Malaysia for January are already double those for the whole of January 2013. Corporates have announced $1.7bn in Sukuk compared to the $700m total sold in January last year. Depending on what happens to interest rates, global Sukuk issuance volumes seem likely to wane as rates rise and the cost of borrowing increases. The other major fear is that the China debt bubble will burst and send shockwaves through the world’s economies with the epicentre on South East Asia.

Bank Aljazira has faced a lot of challenges linked to its transition from a conventional bank to a fully Shariah-compliant bank, according to Yasser Al-Hedaithy, Group Treasurer of the bank. Today, Bank Aljazira offers every conventional product available in the market, on a Shariah-compliant basis. Moreover, it has a fully independent Shariah board to ensure compliance with Islamic law. As part of its community service, the bank established a fund called Khair Aljazira Le Ahl Aljazira which helps the disabled in terms of rehabilitation, learning and other programmes. The main driver behind that success is customer loyalty. Furthermore, talents are attracted to the bank by offering attractive jobs.

In Pakistan, Mudaraba companies and Mudarabas (Non-Banking Islamic financial institutions (NBIFIs)) attracted the major business groups of the country since the early 80s. The Mudaraba sector recorded rapid growth until 1996, when the fall back of NBIFIs began and the country witnessed a large number of closures and mergers during the next fifteen years. This left many of doubts and questions as to the future, viability and adoptability of Islamic finance. The causes of failure can be categorized into seven M's: management, money, major defaults manipulation, mismatch, moral hazards and monitoring. However, most of the national NBIFIs managed to survive and generate lucrative profits for their investors, which shows that it was not failure of the Islamic financial system rather a failure of the management.

Moody's Investors Service has confirmed Bahrain Islamic Bank's (BIsB) supported issuer ratings at Ba3, with a negative outlook, and affirmed its short term ratings at Not Prime. At the same time, Moody's downgraded BIsB's standalone bank financial strength rating (BFSR) by one notch to E from E+, equivalent to a baseline credit assessment (BCA) of caa1 from b3 previously. Moody's downgrade of the standalone credit profile reflects BIsB's still thin and vulnerable capital base, given the continued lack of clarity surrounding the timing, nature and amount of the anticipated capital injection. These weaknesses are partially moderated by BIsB's solid funding and liquidity position.The negative outlook on the supported issuer rating is aligned with negative outlook on the ratings of the Government of Bahrain, the ultimate provider of systemic support to the bank.

Bahraini First Energy Bank (FEB) has signed a 25-million-euro ($34 million) Murabaha facility with the Netherlands-based Kore Coal Finance, a subsidiary of Sapinda Holding. The financing will assist Sapinda in enhancing its investments in an internationally operating resource company which owns coal mining assets in South Africa. This Islamic facility supplements the recently concluded conventional profit participation note of 55m euros raised by Kore Coal Finance with a similar objective. The Murabaha facility has been structured on the basis of an attractive return and will be repaid by October 2016. FEB is acting as the investment and security agent under this Murabaha financing. The bank has an authorised share capital of $2 billion and a paid-up capital of $1 billion.

Al Wefaq Islamic Society, led by Shaikh Ali Salman, explicitly sought to achieve its political goals by putting Bahrain's leadership in an economic stranglehold. Al Wefaq failed but this organisation has cost Bahrain a lot in purely financial terms. Money was wasted on policing, rebuilding vandalised property and compensating those harmed by the unrest. The economic growth slowed down to a record low of -6.6pc in March 2011. It is estimated that the total loss to Bahrain is in the region of $3bn to $5bn. This, however, fails to reflect the sufferings of small businessmen and their families who have lost everything. Other damage done by Al Wefaq cannot be quantified, such as the economic impact when commercial banks permanently relocate to Malaysia or Dubai, and the damaged reputation.

Dubai-based Noor Bank will consider a possible initial public offering of its shares in the medium term, although there is no current need for new capital at the bank. Besides, the bank has announced it was dropping the word “Islamic” from its title after a two-year study of its brand status and positioning. The new name is a major strategic move aimed at underlining its local and international growth ambitions, according to Hussain Al Qemzi, the bank’s chief executive. This rebranding is expected to help the IPO. The rebranding will not affect Noor’s status as a Sharia-compliant financial institution. Mr Al Qemzi said that the bank would continue to look at its traditional areas for expansion: Turkey, the GCC region, and South East Asia.

There is a lack of understanding of Islamic finance, so people misunderstand or underestimate the topic. Islamic finance deals with financial aspects in our day-to-day activities, and forms a very small part of Islamic law (Shariah). Islamic finance tries to achieve - insofar as the financial sector is concerned - mostly the preservation and protection of property. However, financial products in line with Shariah are not miraculously different from conventional ones, but there are subtle differences. Islamic financial institutes aspire to objectives greater than the accumulation of wealth. They aim for social stability and progress. An Islamic financial system also plays a major role in wealth distribution through Zakat, Waqf etc. Individuals as well as the society as a whole can benefit from Islamic finance.

The Sixth Foundation of Islamic Finance (FIFC) Conference is to be held at the Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom on April 2-3, 2014. Papers relating to Islamic economics and finance including papers covering the Shariah aspects of Islamic economics and finance are welcome in this 2014 meeting with the conference theme "Islamic Economics and Finance: The New Frontier”. Numerous experts, industry practitioners and scholars will participate. The submission deadline for papers is Friday 15, February, 2014. Paper writer(s) will be notified of the International Review Panel’s decision by 23 February, 2014. Once the papers are accepted, registration has to be done by 28 February, 2014. The registration fee is MR 1450 (about US$450). For further information and contact details please see the website: http://nceis.unimelb.edu.au/events/all/foundation_of_islamic_finance_con...

Nakheel plans to prepay in 2014 more than half of its bank debt of AED6.8 billion, originally due for repayment in September 2015. The company will pay AED2.35 billion in Q1 2014, and plans an additional prepayment of approximately AED1.65 billion in Q3 2014. Moreover, Nakheel plans to make additional payments of AED3 billion by Q3 2015. Other amounts will be paid ahead of the due dates. The trade creditor sukuk, due in August 2016, will be paid on time. The company says that a robust financial performance that has significantly exceeded its revised business plan, has led to improvements of approximately AED22 billion to date over the plan period. Over the past 28 months, since the successful completion of the financial restructuring, Nakheel has continued its focus on delivering the revised business plan and creating a long term sustainable business. Besides, Nakheel also launched new development projects to revive its core business activity of property development.

The South China Sea reportedly holds 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas; some experts estimate even more. Unfortunately, there's no clear way to define who "owns" these resources, as China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei all believe some, or all, of these resources belong to them. Many of these countries are forced to import a considerable percentage of their overall demand. Investors need to keep an eye on Southeast Asia, and the South China Sea in particular. The oil in place under that sea, as well as its importance as a trade route, could push some nations to the boiling point as they rush to secure their supply of oil. That's a catalyst for some stocks, while a big risk for others.

Qatari banks are likely to witness poor earnings growth as their net interest margins continue to be squeezed by the cost of funds, according to SICO Investment Bank’s quarterly results preview of GCC equities. The report said Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ) and Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) were expected to see higher provisioning charges caused by a rise in real-estate impaired loans, while Doha Bank’s higher net interest income year on year was expected to drive earnings. SICO also said it expected banks in Saudi Arabia to continue to report strong double digit growth, while UAE banks should witness modest lending growth as a result of limited corporate borrowing, while provisioning was expected to remain at elevated levels.

A special group of police officers will be assembled and sent to Canada for searching and arresting the former head of Bank Melli Iran, Mahmoud Reza Khavari. Since Canadian officials haven't found Khavari yet, Iranian police are asking for one week in order to search for him in Canada. The fraud case originally started in 2007 and involved the use of fraudulent documents to obtain credit for an investment company. Khavari, as the head of Bank Melli Iran, was reportedly involved in the fraud case. However, Khavari escaped to Canada. Iran requested Interpol to announce an international search for him. In June of 2012, Fars news agency reported that Interpol placed Khavari on its Red Notice Wanted list.