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Al Salam Bank-Bahrain (Al Salam Bank) has achieved the highest reduction in non-performing financing (NPF) amongst 55 GCC listed banks in 2019. According to KPMG, the Bank also ranked sixth in the region for Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), with a strong standing of 20.9%. The KPMG report notes that the region’s positive results were coupled with an increased focus on digitisation. Al Salam Bank has come to be recognised as one of the key institutions driving the digitisation of financial services in Bahrain. Al Salam Bank is continuing the successful roll-out of its three-year strategy, focused on giving customers a virtual branch and an onboarding app that enables clients to open their accounts within minutes.

Indonesia raised 9.5 trillion rupiah ($681.74 million) from sukuk, more than the indicative target of 7 trillion rupiah. The weighted average yields for the sukuk sold on Tuesday were lower than comparable notes sold at the previous auction on May 18. Incoming bids reached 28.64 trillion rupiah, compared to 18.85 trillion rupiah in the previous auction.

Al Salam Bank-Bahrain announced the sponsorship of the Islamic Finance Handbook for practitioners, produced locally by the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF). The Islamic Finance Handbook will cover all major Islamic financial products and services including FinTech and Takaful Insurance. The book will incorporate case-studies from Al Salam Bank Bahrain as well as interviews and thoughts from the Bank’s senior management on various aspects of Islamic Finance. The BIBF Centre for Islamic Finance was established in 1997 to help promote the growth of both Islamic finance and banking. Today, the BIBF offers degrees and certifications, and conducts training in more than 27 countries worldwide.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) gave initial price guidance of around 280 basis points over midswaps for a planned issuance of long five-year dollar sukuk. On Monday, DIB hired a group of 10 banks to arrange a global investor call for the deal, which is expected to close on Tuesday.

The Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) approved a request from Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt to publish the disclosure form to proceed with its capital increase procedures. The disclosure form included the board of directors’ approval to raise the company’s issued capital by $66.02 million to $506.2 million from $440.19 million. The capital increase will be carried out by issuing 66.03 million shares at a nominal value of $1 or its equivalent in the Egyptian pound per share through a 0.149-for-one bonus issue.

Al Baraka Banking Group announced the appointment of Abdullah Saleh Kamel as the board's new chairman. Previously, the chairman position was held by the late Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, the group's founder who passed away last month. Kamel served as the board's vice chairman and chairman of the executive committee for several years, contributing to the group's expansion strategies.

Women’s wealth in the Middle East is expected to grow to $1.1 trillion from the current $786 billion during the 2019-2023 period. As of 2019, more than 40% of women’s wealth in the Middle East is concentrated in the UAE and Saudi Arabia where women control assets worth $102 billion and $224 billion. According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), women’s wealth is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3% to $140 billion in the UAE and of 5.1% to $273 billion in Saudi Arabia by 2023. Women are likely to set the region’s wealth management trend, if asset managers target this market segment as a business opportunity and personalise their approach. Women are more likely than men to invest on the basis of their values, favouring funds that perform well but also create a positive impact, as opposed to investing solely for performance.

Mr. Ayman Sejiny, the CEO of The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) and Mr. Satesh Khemlani, the Managing Director of Finterra, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to achieve sustainable business growth. Both organizations have common beneficiaries and share similar social impact development goals. The collaboration with Finterra is based on its highly powered blockchain solutions for Islamic social finance under the names of SadaqahChain®, WAQFChain® and ZakatChain®. The MoU was digitally signed during a virtual signing ceremony. The parties will explore opportunities of blockchain in OIC member countries in close collaboration with national licensed crowd-lending/crowd-funding operators.

The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) organized its first Islamic Finance Virtual Forum on "Covid-19 Economic Implications, Islamic Finance and the Way Forward". It was organized in collaboration with Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), College of Banking and Financial Studies (CBFS) and Minhaj Univeristy. The forum's three sessions were attended by more than 1,200 people while thousands more joined by live streaming on multiple online channels. Shaikh Mufti Taqi Usmani, Chairman of the AAOIFI Shari’ah Board delivered his keynote speech which highlighted the importance of riba-free system. Distinguished session panelists emphasized that the power of ideas has a greater impact compared to the power of size. It was suggested that a long term socially-driven Waqf sukuk would be a good idea for a sukuk issuance and called for a collective effort to work out a revenue generation aspect of it.

Saudi Arabia has raised 5.755 billion riyals ($1.53 billion) in sukuk. The first tranche of the sukuk issue is 3.8 billion riyals, and the total tranche size is 6.549 billion, maturing in 2025. The second tranche has a size of 1.95 billion riyals, and a total tranche size of 10.296 billion, maturing in 2030.

GCC banks will see significantly reduced revenue as they face an earnings shock from the oil price drop and Covid-19 pandemic. S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Mohamed Damak says the coronavirus will take a toll on important sectors such as real estate, hospitality, and consumer-related, but these will be relatively short lived and he forecasts a gradual recovery in nonoil activity from third-quarter 2020. In his view, if the recovery takes longer than expected, GCC banks could feel greater pressure. In March, S&P revised its outlooks of some UAE banks including First Abu Dhabi Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Mashreqbank, Sharjah Islamic Bank and National Bank of Fujairah to negative. Most central banks in the GCC have already come up with stimulus packages to help the banking system withstand the economic fallout. The Central Bank of the UAE on Sunday doubled the size of its stimulus package to Dh256 billion.

Saudi Arabia’s Al Moammar Information Systems (MIS) signed an Islamic facility agreement with Riyad Bank for 290 million Saudi riyals ($77.15 million). The revolving facility will be renewable every year. MIS’s listing on Tadawul last year marked the first listing for a company from the IT sector on the Saudi bourse. The company reported a net profit after zakat and tax of 76 million riyals in 2019, compared to 64.5 million riyals in 2018. Revenues rose to 997.5 million riyals last year, compared to 886.2 million riyals in 2018.

Alwaleed Philanthropies has allocated $30 million to a variety of diverse initiatives to battle against COVID-19 in collaboration with a variety of partners. The fund, chaired by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, includes an additional $20.6 million on top of $9.4 million of existing funds, which have been reallocated for the fight against COVID-19. Continuing to support the Middle East and North Africa, the fund includes a significant allocation towards initiatives including allocation to UN-Habitat to improve water, sanitation and hygiene in the most vulnerable communities. Alwaleed Philanthropies will be working with the Gates Philanthropy Partners to fund a number of health projects to accelerate the development of therapeutics to protect vulnerable populations.

Saudi Arabia has raised 5.55 billion riyals in sukuk. The first tranche of the sukuk issue has a size of 1.3 billion riyals, and a total tranche size of 2.523 billion riyals, maturing in 2027. The second tranche has a size of 4.25 billion riyals, and a total tranche size of 8.238 billion riyals, maturing in 2035.

Egypt's Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) plans for five new sukuk offerings worth EGP 5 billion this year. In early April, FRA approved issuing the first-of-kind sukuk in favor of the Arab Company for Projects and Urban Development, a subsidiary of TMG Holding (TMGH). The total value of this Islamic financing facility is estimated at EGP 2 billion. Additionally, Sarwa Capital has been granted in July 2019 the country’s first sukuk issuer license by FRA. This gives Sarwa the green light to issue Islamic bonds through its sukuk arm, Sarwa Sukuk Company.

The volumes of the global issuance of sukuk have dropped 32% in the first quarter of this year against Q1 2019, and a further decline is expected in Q2 2020, as several countries implement measures to control the spread of COVID19. Most government issuers of sukuk are likely to turn to conventional bond markets as they grapple with the impact of weaker economic environments and tight budgets. S&P Global Ratings identified two major trends for sukuk in 2020 - defaults and slowdown of the innovative sukuk issuance. Given the shocks to the economic environment and rapid change in market conditions, the advisory firm expects credit risk to increase sharply.

Egypt's Financial Regulatory Authority approved the first issuance of sukuk worth 2 billion Egyptian pounds ($127 million) by a subsidiary of Talaat Mostafa Group. The sukuk, issued by the subsidiary Arab Company for Projects and Urban Development, will be available for trading and for expedited payment but will not be transferable for shares. The new sukuk period is for 57 months, up to the end of 2024. Talaat Mostafa Group is Egypt's largest listed real estate developer.

Bahrain's Family Bank has opened its new headquarters in the Diplomatic Area of Manama. The ceremony was attended by the bank’s board members, chief executives of contributing banks and economic personalities. The establishment of the Family Bank as a first social bank in Bahrain in 2010 aimed to boost the social security network by the activation of a micro loan-giving mechanism. The bank was set up through partnership between the Labour and Social Development Ministry, the Royal Charity Organisation, the Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK), Ithmaar Bank, Ahli United Bank and Kuwait Finance House (KFH). It won Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s award for supporting youth projects in 2013.

Gulf Islamic Investments (GII) has acquired a property in New York, which brings the firm’s US portfolio to more than $230 million. The property is an office building in White Plains, Westchester County, with a leasable area of 220,000 square feet, and is currently over 90% occupied by more than 30 tenants. It is also strategically located, as it’s close to the Federal, Supreme, District and Country courthouses in New York. According to CEO Pankaj Gupta, the global economy continues to signal a low-interest rate regime for the foreseeable future, hence, GII sees that such long income assets can deliver high single-digit returns. He added that GII was exploring such opportunities in Paris real estate market as well, with the view of taking advantage of the impact of Brexit.

Saudi-listed retail group Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair Company has signed a Murabaha facility and a revolving credit facility agreement with a syndicate of Saudi banks. The $800 million debt facility is composed of two tranches, including a $650 million Murabaha to be fully utilized in refinancing existing debt, and a $150 million revolving standby credit facility to finance the business’ operational and expansion needs. The Murabaha matures in 7 years, while the revolving credit facility’s tenure is 3 years. The banks participating in the loan agreement are: Al Rajhi Banking and Investment Corporation, the National Commercial Bank, Samba Financial Group, Arab National Bank, Mashreqbank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.