IslamicFinance.de

In Sudan, the convening of the 5th Islamic Financial Industry Forum is going to take place during the period April 25-26 under the theme "Role of Islamic financial institutions in funding economic development projects.” Many international and Islamic financial institutions have been invited to attend the forum, including Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Development Fund, Abu Dubai Development Fund, Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development among others. Delegations representing the Oman Sultanate, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are expected to take part in this annual event which is organised by the Khartoum-based Bayan Centre for Islamic Financial Engineering.

Dubai Islamic Bank, Sharjah Islamic Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank are more than tripling Bank of Khartoum’s capital to around $225 million after it gained a short-term ‘A-1’ rating from The Islamic International Rating Agency last week. Bank of Khartoum’s General Manager Fadi Faqih said its bank wants to boost its agricultural finance business by preparing a fund to attract direct investment from mainly Gulf banks to invest into Sudan's agricultural sector. Bank of Khartoum also plans to arrange Sukuk for corporate clients in the infrastructure and utility sector for some 150 million pounds this year.

The Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA) has assigned a national scale long-term credit rating of 'AA-' (Double A Minus) to Bank of Khartoum (BOK) with a short-term rating of 'A-1' (A One). The outlook on the assigned rating is 'stable'. The fiduciary score has been assessed in the range of '70-75', reflecting adequate fiduciary standards wherein rights of various fund providers are adequately defined and protected. BOK is the first financial institution to have been rated in Sudan.

According to a recent report, the African Charitable Society for Mother and Child Care has signed an agreement which allows access to USD 100,000 from the Islamic Solidarity Fund. The Palestinian fund serves the purpose of elevating the living standard of Muslim people around the world. The money will be used for the establishment of 225 microfinance projects which will support widows and poor women in the outskirts of the capital city of Khartoum. No information is available on whether the financial help is a loan or a grant.

? three-day Financial Literacy Training of Trainers course was organized and held by Silatech - a social enterprise aiming to to increase employment and entrepreneurship among youth in the Middle East and North Africa. 20 instructors from the Sudan Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences (SABFS) took part. After the training, they now can offer a four months long microfinance development program to approximately 1,000 credit officers in Sudan. The materials used in the training were developed by US-based Microfinance Opportunities.

According to an announcement by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), the bank plans to expand its original footprint by launching its branch in Khartoum in Sudan. Thus, ADIB becomes the first UAE-based Islamic financial institution which has received a banking license from the Sudanese Central Bank. A Wealth Management and a Corporate Banking Centre will be established alongside the provision of the bank's award-winning products and services. This way ADIB will ensure a leading platform for Shari'a-compliant banking in Sudan and will be able to contribute to the economic development of the country.

According to Bank of Khartoum's plans, the bank will increase its capital more than three times with the help of an expansion in the resource-rich country enabled by its Gulf investors. The investors are certain that peace with South Sudan will be maintained. Due to wars, poverty and a decade-long conflict with South Sudan, Sudan could not make use of the possible large-scale foreign investments so far. The U.S. sanctions against Sudan in place over its human rights record since 1997 have had an enormous effect. Since the agreement to end hostilities in September, Gulf Arab investors look more positively on Sudan.

Bank of Khartoum's plans include selling Islamic corporate bonds since after an oil deal with South Sudan the economic outlook for Sudan becomes better. This year's profit of the bank is expected to reach record amounts due to strong lending and a substantial windfall from the devaluation of the Sudanese pound. Several sukuks have already been started. According to the bank's general manager, issues worth $100 million in bonds for local companies are a realistic is a realistic goal to be achieved by early 2013.

Read more on: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/56460/Business/Economy/Suda...

Sudan and South Sudan have agreed, as a part of peace discussions, to cooperate on banking and monetary policy, which could help boost trade between both countries after decades of civil war. According to the official statements, any commercial bank will have access to other country's banking market through foreign bank license, and also both central banks will cooperate more tightly in order to stabilize monetary policy and keep inflation under control.

See more under: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/54350/Business/Economy/Suda...

Due to economic chaos in Sudan, foreign investors cannot easily receive their bond payments. There is no legal possibility to directly convert bond payments into dollars. Therefore, it is recommended to reinvest, e.g. in real estate, using the money paid out in local currency. The main reason for impossibility of payment in dollars is the independence of South Sudan in July 2011. Since South Sudan was the country's main source for oil as well as for dollars, now it finds itself cut off. The central bank hardly allows conversion of shares or bonds into dollars in order to preserve money for food imports.

Microtakaful shall help people at the base of the economic pyramid to find a way out of poverty and gives them a real hope of being financially independent. It is known that of the 41 lowest human development countries, 20 have a majority Muslim population. In other words, 54 % of the one billion people living in the low depending countries are Muslims. There are actually just a few takaful operators that have entered into the low-income microtakaful market, especially in the countries where almost all population is Muslim, poverty is extended and the takaful sector is already established.

Malaysia was invited by Sudan in order to provide support in the country's efforts to set up Islamic banks on their territory. It shall help Sudan to facilitate trade and to ease investment financing between both countries. This move is considered as a sign of recognition of Malaysia as Islamic financial centre.

Junaid Ahmed, President & CEO Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan Limited, revealed the prospects of finding shari’a compliant solutions in the banking industry in an interview given to Profit.
He stated that DIBPL has always looked for its strength in its slogan and being the first Islamic Bank of the world and having a global presence in the UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Sudan and Bosnia, the bank is in a position to present the best mix of banking services to their customers.

At the recent International Takaful Summit 2011 the experts from Takaful stated that they expect to reach $12 billion by the end of this year.
Ernst & Young think that emerging markets will be the key actors leading Takaful’s growth.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Malaysia are currently the top three Takaful markets. They are followed by c, Bangladesh, Sudan, and Pakistan.

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) is currently engaged in challenging issues related to the financing of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and projects providing food security and housing among member countries.
There already are some members that have potential for providing food security so that those who do not have such potential could benefit, and that include countries like Kazakhstan, Sudan and Indonesia.

Gulf Arab states is planing to have a single Shariah board for the region’s Islamic financial institutions in five to 10 years. A “supreme Shariah council” will help reduce the cost of issuing sukuk and boost Islamic services offered by financial institutions that comply with the religion’s ban on interest.
Hussain Hamed Hassan, head of Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC (DIB)’s Shariah committee, criticized central banks for treating Shariah- compliant financial institutions as if they were non-Islamic companies. He added that only a few central banks were exceptions, including those in Bahrain and Sudan.

The Sudanese Islamic Bank plans to move in the future into Kenya. This would be the first cross-border expansion of Islamic finance in East Africa.
Kenya is in the process of changing its finance laws to allow Islamic finance. Kenya has two Shari'ah compliant banks in operation, a Takaful company and an array of Shari'ah compliant banking products in conventional banks, leading the way.

The hope of selling Islamic bonds worth 765 million pounds is taking over Sudan, after the split from the south that is going to take place in July.
The African country relies on the domestic debt market as U.S. sanctions mostly deny access to international markets.
Azhari Eltayeb Elfaki stated that the demand is bigger than they thought it would be.

Sudan began to sell sukuk worth 765 million Sudanese pounds ($286 million). The statement was given by an official, He added that the offering is going to run for ten days.

The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) is expected to issue the first Shariah-compliant financial instruments by year-end.
The minimum size of the instruments could be US$300 million depending on the market demand.
The IILM was established on October 2010 with 14 founding shareholders, comprising the 12 central banks of Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia,Mauritius, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as two multi-lateral institutions, the Islamic Development Bank and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector.