IslamicFinance.de

Strong investor demand and a need to improve capital adequacy ratios are causing Turkey's Islamic banks to consider issuing subordinated sukuk. Ibrahim Oguducu, head of the financial institutions business at Bank Asya, said longer-tenor subordinated sukuk would help balance mismatches between the maturities of banks' liabilities and assets, while diversifying their funding sources. Subordinated issues might not be expensive for Turkey's Islamic banks that have issued only two sukuk so far.

Kuveyt Turk has made an application for a a German banking licence. According to its Chief Executive - Ufuk Uyan - it thus aims to become the first Islamic bank in Germany. The company is now waiting for a response from German financial watchdog BaFin. Kuveyt Turk's plans include opening a number of branches in Germany and probably in other European countries later. Moreover, it is decided upon an initial capital investment worth 45 million euros ($58 million) in the planned German unit.

According to plan the Turkish investment fund Kuveyt Turk will open the first Islamic bank in Germany this October. They sustain the hopes to overcome the euro crisis and to profit from successful Islamic banking. In contrast with highly speculative financial management which caused the ongoing euro crisis, the Islamic bank shall offer only transactions backed by tangible assets.

It seems that Kuwait's role in the fast-growing global market for sukuks could become larger, if lawmakers expand and administer a more robust legal framework to regulate the issuance of sharia-compliant debt.
However, during this time, Kuwait-based Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) and Kuveyt Turk participation bank have raised funds in the last months by selling sukuks.

Kuveyt Turk has given a price to its $350m five-year sukuk. It seems that the paper priced at par with an expansion of 447.5 basis points over midswaps and had a profit rate of 5.875 percent.

Turkey with a population nearing 70 million is an untapped market for participation investment funds especially equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), exchange traded commodities (ETCs) and index-linked equity funds. These funds of course are not only aimed at Muslim investors but also at those interested in alternative ethical and socially-responsible investment products.
Following the introduction of the Banking Act 2007, the country’s four participation (Islamic) banks — Albaraka Turk, Kuveyt Turk, Turkiye Finans and Asya Finans Participation Banks — were brought under the same provisions of the above act, which meant that the regulatory regime was exactly the same as for the conventional banks.
According to Sungurlu, the Kuveyt Turk GoldPlus ETF is a major step by participation banks in the Islamic investment space.

The funds collected at participation banks were up 13 percent and reached 30.4 billion TL (21.1 billion USD).
The number of participation bank branches was up 6 percent to 595 and the banks employed 12,404 people in the mentioned period.
The Participation Banks Association of Turkey has currently four members, including Albaraka Turk, Bank Asya, Kuveyt Turk, and Turkiye Finans.