IslamicFinance.de

South America isn’t known to be a popular region for Islamic finance. However, there have been some activities to approach it as a new frontier. The first foray Islamic finance has made on the continent was into Suriname. Last year, the Central Bank of Suriname approved Islamic finance products and services in the banking sector and the first Islamic bank in the country, Trustbank Amanah, started operations on December 7, 2017. The other South American country opening up is Guyana. The Islamic Development Bank sees Guyana as a major oil and gas producer in the future when industrial development kicks in. In a first step the country received $900mn in financial and technical assistance from the Islamic Development Bank over a three-year period, commencing in 2018. The money will be used for development of Guyana’s economic infrastructure, the establishment of Islamic banking institutions is planned for later.

Kenya's Islamic finance industry is over a decade old but is yet to realize its full potential. The uptake of Shariah compliant financial products has been adversely affected by the absence of supportive legal and regulatory infrastructure, lack of skilled Islamic finance professionals, poor perception and lack of awareness. One other challenge is the lack of harmonisation of the Shariah standards. Industry stakeholders need to undertake a comprehensive training of the Shariah scholars and enhance public awareness in Islamic finance. Aqeel Consulting takes the initiative to organise a technical workshop for the Shariah scholars between July 11 -12, 2018 at the Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club.

Birmingham-based Al Rayan Bank appointed Paul McMillan as chief operating officer as part of the bank’s expansion efforts. McMillan, a former chief executive of mortgage servicing firm Acenden, takes over the role from the bank’s previous COO Venkat Chandrasekar. Al Rayan is one of the five standalone Islamic banks in Britain and is owned by Qatar’s Masraf Al Rayan.

Cancer patients from the Palestinian territories can soon benefit from a new modern diagnosis apparatus, financed by Germany and the Islamic Development Bank. The Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) in East Jerusalem received a PET/CT scanner which allows modern cancer diagnosis. Mr. Peter Beerwerth, the German Representative in Ramallah praised the valuable work the AVH is doing. AVH, managed by the Lutheran World Federation, is the first and only hospital to provide special therapies in the Palestinian territories. Here, about 1.800 patients are treated yearly. Germany contributed an amount of 1,2 million USD for the PET/CT system. The Islamic Development Bank contributed some 400.000 USD.

Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations affect Geneva from two major players. The United Nations family being one of the major locations for it and the well known financial industry:

Geographically, on the Right Bank mainly, we have 34 international organizations, 175 state representations, 350 NGOs and about 30,000 jobs. This community has unparalleled know-how in health, development, environment, human rights, etc. Opposite, on the Left Bank we have 104 banks and many other financial intermediaries that generate more than 35'000 workstations.

IslamicFinance.de joined a forum held on June 29 in Geneva, under the joint sponsorship of Sustainable Finance Geneva (SFG), SDG Lab, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Canton of Geneva.

In Geneva and Switzerland, sustainable finance occupies a special place. According to Swiss Sustainable Finance's Swiss Sustainable Finance Report 2018, the total market for sustainable investment in Switzerland has increased by 82% since 2016 to CHF 390.6 billion. The amount of sustainable funds currently represents around 8.7% of the entire Swiss fund market.

Dear Reader,

As you probably know Global Donors Forum 2018 will be held in London from September 10-12 under the theme of "Building Resilient Ecosystems". The Forum will be co-hosted with the Cass Business School and City of London Corporation and its various activities of the Forum will take place at the British Museum, Mansion House and House of Lords.

I would be pleased to meet you on this occassion and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. I am member of the steering committee for the event.

The attached shows further details and please note the deadline for early bird registration, which is July 10th.

Best regards,

Michael Gassner

The Head of Dubai Chamber-Ghana Office, Cyril Darkwa, is encouraging the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to see Islamic banking as a way to promote financial inclusion in the country. Mr. Darkwa stated that this type of finance is being utilised by banks, companies and start-ups to tap into the large unbanked population in Africa. An executive member of the Ghana Muslim (GM) Ambassadors, Dr. Abubakar Muhammad Marzuq, said Islamic banking will be of great benefit to the country as a whole. He said although regulations are necessary to attract investors, awareness is more important to ensure a vibrant Islamic banking regime. He therefore called for effective collaboration between the Islamic banking industry and the media in order to create awareness.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case against an incumbent director of Al-Arafah Islami Bank for allegedly laundering Tk 1.68 crore in Singapore. ACC filed the case against Badiur Rahman, who was also chairman of the bank's board of directors between 2008 and 2016. Badiur set up the company Ariel Maritime in Singapore with three directors. Badiur's invested capital was SGD 25,000 in 2003 and he has been operating the company since then. His investment increased to SGD 0.5 million, equivalent to Tk 1,68,38,800. According to ACC, Badiur could not show any acceptable documents to prove legitimacy of the source of income that he invested in the company. To conceal the source of income, he misused his power as a director and secretly transferred the money.

L’Université Dauphine Tunis lance un executive master intitulé "Principes et pratiques de la finance islamique". La première promotion se déroulera de janvier à juillet 2019 pour 420 heures de cours, en anglais, en français et, pour partie, en arabe. Le programme se divise en cinq modules: principes de la finance islamique, principes et pratiques de la banque commerciale islamique, principes et pratiques de l’investissement et du financement de projets en finance islamique, principes et pratiques de la gestions d’actifs islamistes et de l’assurance Takaful et enseignements complémentaires. Les enseignements seront dispensés par l’équipe pédagogique de l’Université Paris Dauphine, menée par les co-directeurs Kader Merbouh et Kaouther Jouaber-Snoussi.

Malta Islamic Finance Association (MIFA) was officially launched on 26th June 2018 by Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation Silvio Schembri. The present government headed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat fully supports and endorses all efforts for establishing Islamic Finance in Malta. Malta Islamic Finance Association aims to liaise with governments, quasi-governmental institutions, multilateral organizations, standard setting bodies, agencies and regulatory authorities. The Governing Council of MIFA has appointed Mr. Reuben Buttigieg as President of MIFA and Sheikh Bilal Khan as Secretary General of MIFA for the first term.

Countries in East Africa are increasingly joining the Islamic finance industry as their Muslim population grows and demand for Shariah-compliant banking and finance rises. In Ethiopia the central bank is planning to develop Islamic finance in order to improve financial inclusion, while Somalia’s central bank has given licences to six Islamic Banks and two takaful companies. Both Tanzania and Kenya have recognised the potential of Islamic finance, in Rwanda Islamic finance made its debut in 2016 with an Islamic microfinance Institution. Only Burundi, South Sudan and Eritrea don’t have ambitions to set up Islamic banks. The latest regional entrant in the Islamic finance sector is Uganda. Finance minister Patrick Ocailap said that a framework for the implementation of Islamic banking in the country has been developed and will be operational by October 2018.

Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) aims to be the driver of the Islamic finance development in Kazakhstan. For this, the AIFC is strengthening its capacity building by establishing the Bureau for Continuing Professional Development. AIFC managing director Yernur Rysmagambetov said two programs habe been launched. One of them is aimed at the training of specialists for the banking sector. The second program is focused on literacy of the end users on Islamic finance. The corporate sector is the main customer of the Islamic banks in Kazakhstan. Attraction of the retail customers in the Islamic finance is another trend of the past years.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB Group) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a framework for strategic cooperation. The MOU will have a strong focus on sustainable infrastructure including development of energy and power, transportation and telecommunications, rural infrastructure water supply and sanitation, environmental protection, urban development and logistics. IsDB Group President H.E Dr. Bandar M.H. Hajjar said the Group looks forward to stimulate the region’s economic growth together with AIIB. The two banks intend to share knowledge and exchange experiences among employees through joint temporary assignments, secondments and training.

Egypt is considering tapping the international sukuk market in the coming fiscal year, as it looks to diversify funding sources. The issuance would mark a revival of a plan shelved since 2013 when the government issued the law to pave the way for the country’s first Islamic bond. Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said that the ministry has yet to discuss how much it wants to raise from conventional bond sales in the coming fiscal year. The focus is shifting toward long term borrowing. The government is also planning on launching the first offerings of stakes in public sector companies in July or August. The initial stakes are expected to raise between 15 billion and 18 billion pounds.

Islamic banking is gaining a strong footing in Africa with the launch of Islamic banking windows of Coris Bank International in Mali, Senegal, Benin and Côte d’Ivoire. The official launch of Coris Bank Baraka Senegal took place in the presence of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) representatives, the Minister of Budget of Senegal, the Deputy CEO of Coris Bank International group and the CEO of Coris Bank International Senegal. The Minister of Budget of Senegal showed appreciation to Coris banking group for launching the Islamic window. ICD as a technical advisor facilitated the launch of Islamic windows in Senegal, Benin and Mali. Further, Coris Bank International and ICD are collaborating together to launch one more Islamic window in Côte d’Ivoire by end of June, 2018.

Qatari banks lead the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members states in real estate lending despite the economic blockade. Qatar disbursed 3.36 billion U.S. dollars of incremental credit in the first quarter of this year. Saudi Arabian banks ranked second, as they disbursed 1.47 billion dollars of incremental credit. Residential-related transactions contributed to 48% of the total transactions and accounted for 50.8% of the transaction volumes in the first quarter. On Sunday, Fitch Ratings has upgraded the outlooks of Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) to 'stable'. The rating showed that Qatar was able to overcome the economic and trade blockade imposed on it by the Saudi-led bloc since last year.

Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, is turning to green finance markets to fund new development projects. In February, the Indonesian government issued $1.25 billion as the first sovereign green sukuk in the world. The first corporate green sukuk was issued by a Malaysian company in July last year. The Indonesian Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility (TLFF) issued a $95 million sustainability bond to finance rubber plantations in Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo. However, Indonesia did not provide investors with a specific list of projects it was seeking to fund through the green sukuk. The opacity in implementing sustainable criteria is not uncommon in the global green bond market.

Islamic Development Bank president Bandar Hajjar said the bank was exploring joint opportunities with other multilateral development banks to invest in India’s infrastructure sector. India plans to invest as much as ?5.97 trillion in creating and upgrading infrastructure in the current financial year. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is setting in play a new integrated infrastructure programme that involves building of roads, railways, waterways and airports. For this, India has sought project financing totalling $2.4 billion from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Also, the Asian bank will invest $200 million in India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).

Since the launch of Islamic 'participatory' banks in July 2017, more than 71 agencies have joined the non-interest banking program throughout Morocco. Abdellatif Jouahri, the governor of Bank Al Maghrib (Morocco’s central bank), said the participatory banks have granted a total of MAD 1.1 billion in loans. Jouahri highlighted the special interest that murabaha is especially attractive for both real estate and automobile customers. The governor stressed that Morocco is preparing to issue its first sukuk in July 2018, which will complement the services offered by participatory banks. While the order approving the takaful circular has already been finalized, the legislative texts are still being finalized.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) has joined the UAE International Investors Council (UAEIIC), making it the first bank in the UAE to become a member in the council. ADIB's acting CEO Khamis Buharoon said his bank was committed to the development of Emirati investments, which are critical to economic diversification and the UAE’s global economic competitiveness. The council provides a link between investors, governmental and semi-governmental entities to streamline the investment process. It also serves as a pillar for ensuring the protection of UAE capital abroad through advice, guidance, and logistic support.