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The management of BankIslami has appointed Shahid Ali Khan as the new CEO of KASB Securities, the subsidiary of KASB Bank. Khan replaces outgoing CEO, Irfan Nadeem Sayeed. The management, which had earlier pledged not to force officials of KASB Bank to quit, is now placing its officials on key positions in sheer contradiction of the claim it made at the time of merger of KASB Bank with BankIslami. In the emergent meeting of the board of directors recently, BankIslami management appointed new leadership for KASB Bank’s subsidiary, including new CEO and a board of director, M Nasurur Rahman, in the place of Tahir Iqbal.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday issued notices to the Ministry of Finance, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and others on the petition of a shareholder against amalgamation of KASB Bank with BankIslami. The petitioner, First Capital Equities Limited, who owned approximately 94,000,000 shares worth approximately Rs 210 million in the KASB Bank, moved the court against SBP’s moratorium and amalgamation of the bank with BankIslami. The petitioner maintained that its fully paid-up shares in the bank were unlawfully cancelled and extinguished due to the merger without its consent and opportunity of hearing.

The Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has asked the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to review the deal to merge KASB Bank and BankIslami, which cost millions of rupees to the equity investors. Sources said that SECP Chairman Zafar Hijazi wrote a letter to SBP Governor Ashraf Mehmood Wathra, urging him give compensation to equity traders who faced losses as a result of the amalgamation of BankIslami with KASB Bank. The value of KASB Bank’s shares became zero after the amalgamation process – as the shares now stand cancelled and retired – and there was no protection to investors’ money, mainly that of shareholders.

Indonesia’s Islamic insurance market will be reshaped over the next decade by a new law that requires conventional firms to spin off their sharia-compliant units, while encouraging more foreign investors to enter the market. The takaful market in Indonesia is dominated by so-called “windows”. The new law, which came in force last month, requires insurers to spin off their windows within 10 years. Most firms are likely to meet the spin-off requirement as late as possible and they will first expand their sharia units to ensure they are big enough to be spun off easily. The rules are expected to spur consolidation among conventional firms.

Costs of issuing Islamic bonds in Asia are still significantly higher than the costs of issuing conventional bonds, a study by the Asian Development Bank found. In Indonesia, profit rates for sukuk issued by the government are on average 86 basis points higher than comparable conventional government bonds. In Malaysia profit rates for sukuk are on average 8 bps higher. However, lack of familiarity with complex sukuk structures can translate into higher advisory fees for prospective issuers, while investors demand higher yields because of limited trading activity in secondary markets for sukuk. The average gap between issuance costs for sukuk and conventional bonds in the Gulf is believed to be very small or non-existent - and in some cases, it has even proved cheaper to issue sukuk.

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.

The half yearly results of Burj Bank Limited (Burj) for the period until the end of June 2012 were made public. The bank registered profit before tax as high as Rs 147 million. The announcement is a reflection of the bank's turnaround in terms of continuous earning for the first two quarters of this year. Furthermore, the growth of the total deposits is 57% reaching Rs 32 billion in the first half of the year. The profits are seen as remarkable progress, especially having in mind the significant challenges the bank has faced in the period.

Adnan Ahmad Yousif, CEO of Al-Baraka Bank, had a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Ch Parvez Elahi on Tuesday. At the meeting, high appreciation for the steps taken by noted religious scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani for interest free working in the banks was shown.

Read more on: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\10\31\story_31-10-2012_pg10_1

In a recent announcement UBL Fund Managersstated that it will launch its new Shariah-compliant investment scheme. The scheme known under the name UBL Islamic Cash Fund is described as an Islamic Money Market Scheme with clients who have cash lying idle in a current account as a target group. Investing in UBL Islamic Cash Fund will enable customers to earn a competitive return which will be calculated and announced on a daily basis.

More on: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\09\19\story_19-9-2012_pg10_3

Governor State Bank of Pakistan Salim Raza has disclosed that the SBP is actively working with the industry and the federal government to develop Shariah compliant short-term securities, which will be issued on regular basis.

Dawood Islamic Bank, Pakistan’s only double AA rated bank has completed its hat trick by inaugurating three more branches in Lahore.