IslamicFinance.de

Venue and Sponsor: The Faculty of Economics, Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia
Date: January 6-7, 2010
Deadlines: Abstract July 31, 2009 (electronic submission), completed paper October 31st, 2009.

Contacts:

1) Prof Abdul Ghaffar Ismail, agibab@ukm.my
2) Prof Masudul Alam Choudhury, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, masudc@squ.edu.om

Monday, March 16, 2009
3:30 to 5:30 pm
Pound Hall 335, Harvard Law School
Confirmed panellists: Samuel L. Hayes, Baber Johansen, E. Roger Owen, Aamir A. Rehman

More details: ifp@law.harvard.edu

Press Release

Jakarta, 3rd March, 2009

The Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB Group) provided “Gold Sponsorship” to the 5th World Islamic Forum WIEF being held in Jakarta, Republic of Indonesia. In his speech in the Leadership Panel on “Innovative Solutions to Global Challenges”, HE Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President of the IDB Group praised WIEF for addressing these critical topics, and emphasized three avenues to new innovative solutions to meet global challenges, namely, ethics-based rather than rule-based financial governance structure, investment partnership with the poor and the vulnerable, and unleashing the God-given potential and innate strength of the full human resources. In his speech, he briefed the participants on IDB Group activities in meeting global challenges.

The first day of the Forum included two panel sessions titled “Leadership Panel” and “Global CEO Panel” followed by four plenary sessions namely; Beyond Scarcity: Overcoming the Global Food Crisis, Paving Greener World: Creating a Future for Alternative Energy, Stemming the Tide of the Global Financial Crisis, and Global SMEs: Business Beyond Boundaries.

The International Zakat Organisation ('IZO'), an important new charitable body of the Organisation of The Islamic Conference ('OIC'), announced its selection of The BMB Group to lead a new global charitable initiative which promises to be the largest in the Islamic world.

The proposed Global Zakat & Charity Fund would be over USD 3 bn in size and will manage charitable funds to address needy causes in the world.

The Fund will invest in community development projects with an emphasis on sustainability. The four major areas to be targeted are: (1) income generation through the provision of private equity investments to small and medium enterprises, (2) development of social enterprise through the establishment of hospitals, educational institutions and housing developments (3) development of agricultural and other vital infrastructure and (4) the provision of relief and emergency funding.

Mat Hassan Esa is the CEO of International Zakat Organisation.
Dr Humayon Dar is the CEO of BMB Islamic.
BMB appoints David Gibson-Moore as Managing Partner.

The appointment of Muhammad Al-Jasser last month as the new governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA). Foreign regulatory officials and bankers expect a much more proactive policy approach from the new governor. Others expect SAMA under Al-Jasser to open up to Islamic banking in particular and to show leadership in this field in the light of the growing globalization of the industry.

Jessica Mador reported on 1 March on Minnesota Public Radio that the state's housing agency Minnesota Housing is launching a new program offering Islamic mortgages.

Chicago-based Devon Bank is underwriting the loans for the New Markets program. Devon is one of the largest Islamic lenders in the country. Corporate Counsel David Loundy says he expects the demand for Islamic financing to grow as more Muslims make their home in the U.S. Loundy says Muslims tend to be good risks.

According to a survey published originally by the newspaper Al Qabas it results that Al Rajhi Bank with its market value of USD 22.4 bn was ahead of leading global banks, including: Morgan Stanley with USD 20.88 bn, Deutsche Bank with USD 13.83 bn, Barclays with USD 11.58 bn, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) with USD 10.93 bn and Citibank with USD 10.63 bn.

Wachstumschancen für schweizer Finanzdienstleister in der Finanzkrise

Islamic Finance ist trotz oder gerade wegen der Finanzkrise der Wachstumsmarkt schlechtin. Schweizer Finanzdienstleister haben in den letzten zwei Jahren ihre Onshore-Präsenz in der arabischen Welt signifikant erhöht. Nun gilt es, bestehende Angebote intelligent um Schariah-konforme Produkte zu ergänzen und dadurch das stark gestiegene Bedürfnis vieler Muslime nach Islamischen Finanzprodukten zu adressieren. Schweizer Institute verfügen hier aufgrund ihrer guten Reputation in der Region über ausgezeichnete Voraussetzungen, mit "Swiss Islamic Banking" eine nennenswerte Position in diesem viel versprecenden Wachstumsmarkt einzunehmen.

19. März 2009 - Zürich, Metropol.

According to Moody' s worldwide fall in oil prices and the global economic crisis has affected the Islamic finance industry, but the institutions' accumulated liquidity and capital will help them withstand these pressures.

According to Moody's, the drop in oil prices poses two key challenges for the Islamic finance industry. "Firstly, there is still a vital link between oil prices and Islamic banks as most of the latter operate in hydrocarbon-exporting economies. As they face increasingly limited funding sources, Islamic banks will find it more difficult to grow going forward. Secondly, oil liquidity has been a major driver of the disintermediation process in the Islamic finance industry. With reduced oil liquidity, not only have sukuk issuances been slowing sharply, thereby depriving Islamic banks of much-needed long-term funding, but pricing on such instruments has been distorted," says Anouar Hassoune, a Moody's Vice-President/Senior Credit Officer and co-author of the report.

Shamil Bank said that it had made USD 66.8 mn in total income for last year. The bank's net profit last year amounted to USD 22.8 mn, while Q4 last year, the bank sustained $16.3 million in losses.

Over the year, commodity Murahabas (bank placements) increased significantly from $424 million to $1.043 billion. The bank's Murabaha Financing (loans and advances) activities also increased from $807m to $1.048 billion.

Pak-Qatar Family Takaful Limited (PQFTL) has been assigned an initial Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) rating of 'A-' (Single A Minus) by JCR-VIS Credit Rating Co. Ltd.

Etiqa Takaful Bhd recorded for the financial year ended June 30 last year a premium of RM 1.044 bn. It is the first takful company to cross this level and the largest in the world. Currently, the company has about a million policy holders.

Mohd Tarmidzi Ahmad Nordin is Chief Executive Officer.

Bahrain-based ABC Islamic Bank announced a net profit of $25.6 million for last year. Gross operating income was USD 33.8 mn which, excluding an exceptional USD 32.8 mn capital gain in 2007 arising from the partial disposal of a sukuk investment, represented a 34 % increase over the previous year. It posted a net profit of USD 50.9 mn in 2007.

A range of international speakers representing Gulf funds and Malaysian institutions will take part in Scotland's first Islamic Finance Conference, which will be held jointly by the Islamic Finance Council and Scottish Financial Enterprise, and hosted by Tods Murray LLP.

The event is primarily aimed at fund managers. Speakers include Datuk Noripah Kamso (CEO CIMB Islamic, Malaysia), N. Tariq Shaikh (Managing Partner RHT partners, Dubai), Iqbal Asaria (MD Amiri Capital, London) and Lord Sheikh (Chairman Camberford Law).

To book:
Email: jwood@sfe.org.uk

ISLAMIC FINANCE CONFERENCE
Event details:
Date:2 Apr 2009
Time: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Venue: Tods Murray LLP, Edinburgh Quay, 133 Fountainbridge, Edinburgh
Open to: Members Only
Cost: Free attendance

Adviser to PM on Finance Shaukat Tareen has asked Islamic banks to bring billions of rupees in formal banking which are kept with the people on religious grounds.

Tareen said that this huge amount can be brought in for productive purposes and channelised into a profit and loss based system of banking.

Zafar and Uves Sareshwala, promoters of broking firm Parsoli Corporation, were debarred by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) after they were found to have fraudulently transferred shares of genuine investors to their own accounts.

Press Release

PARIS, February 27, 2009--Gulf Islamic financial institutions and takaful companies are feeling the repercussions of the current global financial market disruption less than most of their conventional counterparts because Sharia law prohibits interest-based financial products, according to a new report by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.

"IFIs didn't invest in the structured products that have hampered many conventional banks' financial profiles and performance," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Mohamed Damak in the report, titled Rated Gulf Islamic Financial Institutions And Takaful Companies Have Shown Resilience To Global Market Dislocation, But They Are Not Risk Immune. "And most IFIs should be equipped to weather the financial downturn and keep the effects on their financial profiles at manageable levels."

Cecilia Valente reported on 25 February that UK Islamic bank Gatehouse, a unit of Kuwait's Securities House, is set to close its first real estate deal in the coming months, refinancing a continental European property worth about 100 million euros ($128.5 million). The CEO David Testa is cited to have said the bank expected to seal the deal by the end of the second quarter, declining to identify precisely the property or its location. He defines the range of business the four wholesale Islamic banks in the UK could do at deals between GBP 20-40 mn.

Gatehouse, the latest UK-based Islamic bank to be approved by UK market regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA), will finance the deal through a lease and buy-back bond issuance, known as Ijara sukuk.

The sukuk will be placed in the market through the Channel Island-listed Milestone Capital Platform, which the bank said has the capacity to issue debt to up to $1 billion.

Testa said Gatehouse was also involved in raising $50 million for a commodity deal with a Latin American company, which he declined to name.

Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) face a significant hit on profits if real estate prices continue to fall in the Middle East according to ratings agency S&P. IFIs' direct exposure to real estate assets in 2008 reached 20 % of total loans, making them vulnerable to an ongoing correction, especially in Dubai.

Unlike their conventional counterparts, IFIs remained immune to price falls in structured products, which prompted write-downs all over the world, the report said.

A sharia-compliant tradeable security backed by gold will be launched in Dubai next week, Reuters has reported.