IslamicFinance.de

A joint initiative of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) will boost agriculture and enhance drought resilience in Nigeria, Somalia and Uganda. Stronger ties between the two banks will help ramp up agricultural production along important crop and livestock value chains. For example, in Nigeria the Plateau State Potato Value Chain Support Project of the AfDB and the planned IsDB’s Agro Pastoral Development Project in Kano State will promote higher household incomes through productive agro-pastoral activities. In Somalia, AfDB’s Say No To Famine project is providing emergency assistance support and facilitating drought resilience building through the restoration of community assets.

UAE's Noor Bank is to move away from unsecured lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. CEO John Iossifidis said the bank was not turning its back on that sector, but it’s certainly not going to be the unfettered lending that was happening two years ago in the banking sector. Other local banks have already taken steps to cut their exposure to the SME sector. Noor Bank also intends to diversify its corporate loan book. In its retail business, the bank aims to shift its focus more towards affluent consumer clients by raising the minimum salary threshold for customers. Iossifidis said the bank had a 7% market share in the UAE mortgage market, giving it an advantage in capturing greater market share in the affluent market.

A High Court judge in London ruled in favour of creditors in a case regarding the validity of the purchase undertaking for about $700 million of sukuk issued by Dana Gas. The idea that Dana Gas has been able to assert for the past five months that its own sukuk were non-sharia-compliant has struck many observers as unusual. Judge George Leggatt said that Dana Gas' challenges to the validity and enforceability of the purchase undertaking were unfounded and declared the purchase undertaking for Dana's sukuk as valid and enforceable.

Dave Fishwick, the founder of Burnley Savings and Loans, put millions of pounds behind the belief that there’s a demand for ethical banking. He aims to link local savers with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in need of finance, run by a locally based bank manager who makes lending decisions based on deep personal knowledge, rather than an algorithm. Fishwick believes that ethical banks are needed: small, simple, honest banks run by the community to serve the community. While SMEs often can’t get loans from major banks, Conrad Ford, CEO of Funding Options, notes that a wave of challenger banks are offering help. They include Metro Bank, Civilised Bank and Greater London Mutual, all with an emphasis on integration with a defined community or locality.

Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) is expected to start off its new banking entity in the second quarter of next year with RM42 billion in Islamic assets. The company has recently secured an Islamic banking licence by acquiring Asian Finance Bank (AFB) in a RM644.95 million deal. MBSB’s banking subsidiary will be the country’s second largest standalone Islamic lender after Bank Islam Malaysia, which had assets of RM54.25 billion as at June 30. After the merger MBSB will continue to be the listed holding entity, while AFB will be the wholly-owned subsidiary that runs the banking business. According to MBSB's CEO, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zaini Othman, the banking entity will have a similar composition, with 70% in retail banking and 30% in corporate banking. Also, it will solidify its presence in the property, housing and infrastructure segments.

In this interview Madina Kalimullina, adviser on Islamic economics, speaks about the Moscow Halal Expo and Islamic banking in Russia. Although legislation for Islamic banks is still missing, special groups in the Central Bank and the State Duma have been working on this topic. Today the state officially recognizes the concept of partner banking, which can be called Islamic banking. At the Moscow Halal Expo a halal installment plan was proposed, which removes all elements prohibitied from the point of view of Islamic standards. Over the last 8 years all international Sharia standards of Islamic financing were translated into Russian. So banks are gradually testing new products. This year's exhibition has two main topics. The first is cryptocurrencies and the second is multi-level marketing.

Dana Gas share prices fell 4.17% following Friday’s English High Court ruling against Dana Gas and in favour of bondholders. Danas said it plans to appeal the decision by the London court that declared the company’s $700 million sukuk valid and enforceable. Friday’s ruling was made in Dana Gas’s absence from the court. Dana Gas had earlier refused to repay debt owed to investors for two mudaraba sukuk worth $350 million each. The latest ruling does not mean that Dana Gas has to pay bondholders just yet, with another hearing in a UAE court scheduled for December 25.

An Istanbul court has declared bankruptcy of Bank Asya, affiliated with the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO). Bank Asya’s banking license was cancelled on July 22, 2016 by Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK). The agency had ruled for complete takeover of all shares of Bank Asya by the state-run Insurance Fund in May 2015. FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup attempt of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Shepherd and Wedderburn has completed the Shariah-compliant refinancing of high-value office accommodation in Aberdeen. The properties, which total 159,170 sq ft of floor space, are fully let to the oil and gas service provider Petrofac as its North Sea office headquarters and NHS Scotland. The funding was completed by way of a commodity murabaha facility from an established international bank. Peter Alderdice, a senior associate at Shepherd and Wedderburn, said the team was pleased to have used its expertise in Islamic finance to help secure the refinancing of two of the largest commercial properties in the city.

The Board of Directors of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) has accepted the resignation of Tirad Mahmoud from his position as Group CEO. Mahmoud has beon medical leave from March 2017. Khamis Buharoon, ADIB’s Vice Chairman, will continue as acting CEO. Mahmoud joined the bank as a CEO in 2008 and was able to grow ADIB from a domestic market player to a leading regional bank with presence in six countries and a customer base of around one million customers. ADIB has an asset base of more than AED121 billion. In its most recent quarterly results, ADIB reported a 13% rise in third-quarter net profit.

National Bank of Fujairah (NBF) announced the completion of a Shari’a-compliant bullion financing transaction with Malabar Gold. It is the first bullion financing in accordance with the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) standards on gold in the UAE. This partnership follows the launch of the AAOIFI Shari’a Standard on Gold in December 2016. The standard lays out a clear guidance on the permissibility to trade in gold in a shari’a compliant manner. It also enables Islamic finance institutions to develop new gold-based products and transactions. Vince Cook, NBF’s CEO, said he was delighted to be at the forefront of this major transaction in the gold and jewellery market. He thanked for the support of partners Malabar Gold, Amanie Advisors and World Gold Council.

The world’s financial landscape has changed fundamentally over the last few years. Islamic equity funds experienced strong growth during the second half of the 1990s. In 1996, there were 29 Islamic funds, valued at US$800 million. Nowadays, Indonesia plans to become a leading Islamic finance hub. The Jakarta Islamic Index has 30 sharia shares accounting for Rp 2.1 quadrillion with 32.7% of market capitalization.

An English High Court judge has ruled in favour of Dana Gas’s bondholders, reported the Financial Times.

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Even though its Tunis Financial Harbour (TFH) mega-project has barely got off the ground, Bahrain's Gulf Finance House (GFH) is already looking to acquire adjacent land.

Acccording to Jaiz Bank CEO Hassan Usman, more West African countries and companies are likely to adopt Sukuk to finance infrastructural development and corporate growth plans. He said the envisaged passion for Sukuk issuance in the near future could make the non-interest capital market grow bigger and faster than its conventional counterpart. Nigeria recently issued its maiden sovereign Sukuk and successfully raised N105bn for its N100bn Sukuk, raising optimism on the depth of the market. Usman added that Islamic banking had a lot of potential due to the economic growth in many West African nations supported by improving fundamentals, growing domestic demand and stronger regional integration.

Global sukuk issuance will likely reach US$85 billion-US$90 billion (RM356-377 billion) in 2017, driven by stronger issuance from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. RAM Rating Services said Saudi Arabia and its GCC neighbours had raised sukuk worth US$42 billion at end-October, which was a 215.3% increase from a year ago. Malaysia recorded RM138.7 billion worth of sukuk issuance as at end-October, which exceeded RAM’s full-year projection. Bank Negara Malaysia’s decision to maintain overnight policy rate at 3.0% could spur more sukuk issuance before the end of the year after hinting that monetary policy might be tightened next year.

Tthe Islamic Development Bank appointed in April already the Saudi bioscientist and entrepreneur Hayat Sindi to a new advisory position, and has been tasked with reviewing the bank’s R&D funding and investments, reports the Guardian in an article about Islamic world and science.

Brunei set up the National Financial Literacy Council for creating a prudent and saving-oriented culture. A study made in 2015 revealed that in Brunei 34% of the household respondents do not have a household budget, as for individual respondents 49% do not actively save, while 24% need credit to finance their everyday needs. The National Financial Literacy Council was established with the aim of ensuring that all Bruneians have access to well-suited financial products, independent and credible information and advice. Crown Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah said the establishment of this council was timely and helpful in raising the quality of life of the people, specifically in terms of financial well-being.

The CEO of Al Rayan Bank, Sultan Choudhury, has received his Order of the British Empire (OBE) from Prince William. Choudhury was appointed OBE in the Birthday Honours of Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of his services to Islamic finance. Choudhury was part of the management team that obtained Western Europe’s first authorised Islamic banking licence in 2004. He has since grown the Bank to become the UK’s largest Islamic bank. Al Rayan Bank offers the largest Sharia compliant product range in the UK. The Bank currently has more than more than 80,000 customers throughout the UK, more than a quarter of which it estimates to be non-Muslim.

#Pakistan's National Savings is expected to launch its first Islamic savings product by the start of 2018. According to Zafar Masud, director general of National Savings, the proposed product would begin with one year maturity and allow investors to earn monthly profit. The plan is to issue this product from the National Savings centres. Investors can invest a minimum of Rs10,000 with no maximum investment limit. National Savings manages a portfolio which is around 30% of Pakistan’s total banking deposits and serves more than seven million accounts. Experts see prospects of higher demand for Islamic finance to tap domestic savings. It is expected to increase competition among conventional and Islamic lenders to offer best returns to the savers.