IslamicFinance.de

The Government of Dubai mandated five banks to arrange a benchmark-sized, dollar-denominated Islamic bond which is expected to price on Tuesday in the low four percent area. The mandated banks to arrange the deal are Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, HSBC Holdings, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered.

Emirates NBD surged after the forecast of its Islamic unit that profits would double. The stock gained 6.4% reaching Dh3.31 a share, which is the biggest increase since April 2011. On Wednesday, about 1.3 million shares were traded, which is three times the three-month daily average. The stock is said to be the biggest gainer on the Dubai Financial Market General Index. Emirates Islamic Bank will look for ways to boost net income to Dh150 million this year increasing it from Dh80m in 2012.

The Central Bank has postponed the implementation of three most important reforms regarding the security of chip and pin debit cards. According to the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Emirates NBD, the emirate's banks are not yet ready to implement the new security standards to protect clients against card fraud.

Tamweel took the decision to delay the sale of a $235 million Shariah-compliant asset-backed securitisation after receiving feedback from the market. It seems that the deal structure was too complex by regional standards, which has only ever seen one previous Islamic asset-backed transaction.
Lead managers on the deal were: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, UBS and Emirates NBD.

It seems that Dubai Islamic Bank has issued a $500 million (Dh1.8 billion), five-year sukuk sale after gaining good request.
Helping arrange the Regulation S transaction, after DIB met fixed-income investors in Asia, Middle East and Europe over the past few days, are: Deutsche Bank, DIB, Emirates NBD, HSBC and National Bank of Abu Dhabi.
Fitch Ratings assigned to DIB's $2.5 billion trust certificate issuance program a ‘A 'expected rating.

Emirates NBD from Dubai has asked Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service to withdraw their ratings on Dubai Bank PJSC.
After the accomplishment of the takeover of Dubai Bank by Emirates NBD, all capital and medium-term funding claims for Dubai Bank are controlled under the Group umbrella and accordingly credit ratings are no longer required for this entity.

Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB) has successfully ended the issuance of $500 million sukuk certificates, maturing in 2017 off their $1,000 million Trust Certificate Issuance Programme. The programme is guaranteed by Emirates NBD rated A3 by Moody's and A+ by Fitch.
Joint lead managers and bookrunners on the transactionwere following banks: Citigroup, Emirates NBD Capital, HSBC Bank Plc, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Royal Bank of Scotland Plc and Standard Chartered Bank. The transaction structure was a Sukuk Al Musharaka based on Sharikat Al Melk (Co-ownership), with the certificates remaining a senior obligation of EIB.

It is possible that Emirates NBD will attract funds to the emirate’s first sukuk sale by a bank since 2007, with debt priced at a 150 basis-point discount to the government’s Islamic bond.
It seems that the lender’s Sharia-compliant unit is likely to attract investors with returns as low as 275 basis points above midswaps, or about 4 %.

The fact that Bank Emirates NBD takes over Dubai Bank is more likely not ot have an impact in the Gulf Arab region. Although it's not a common merger, it is a handover arranged by the state.
Although seen as overbanked, the UAE takes rare steps towards consolidation. Emirates NBD is the result of a merger dating back to 2007 between Emirates Bank International and National Bank of Dubai. This was the last time when a bank in in the Gulf state bought a competitor or merged with one of its rival.

Emirates NBD is taking into consideration the opening of a representative offices in China and a number of Asia Pacific countries and the expantion of its Islamic banking operations in the region, joining an increasing number of Middle Eastern lenders looking for a larger presence in some of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
Emirates NBD already opened a branch in Singapore where it gives the opportunity of wholesale banking, treasury and wealth management services to take advantage of increasing trade flows between South East Asia and the Middle East.

Saudi Oger revealed that it has assigned banks to arrange its first loan to be run by non-Saudi institutions, with syndication expected to begin shortly.
The initial mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners for the deal will be Deutsche Bank, China Development Bank and Emirates NBD.
Abu Dhabi's Al Hilal Bank and Barclays Capital have been assigned responsability as lead arrangers for the APG only.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has appointed Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum as the chairman of Emirates NBD, and Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum as the chairman of Noor Islamic Bank.
Shaikh Ahmed replaced Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer as the head of Emirates NBD.

Dubai’s Department of Finance has developted a plan to raise $800 million. It wants to monetize road toll receipts. The aim is to fund infrastructure projects.
A six-year financing could support the Roads and Transport Authority’s infrastructure projects.
Th main arrangers and book-runners for the financing are: Citibank, Commerical Bank of Dubai, Emirates NBD and Dubai Islamic Bank.

His Excellency Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer, Chairman of Emirates NBD officiated the launch.
A focus of the bank's Singapore branch will be on wealth management, targeting High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) from the Middle East who would like to base part of their offshore assets in Singapore. The branch will promote MENA (Middle East North Africa) investments to Asian High Net Worth Individuals who are currently under-weighted in their MENA exposure.

In order to strengthen its relations with the Middle East and India, Jersey Finance wants to open a new overseas office.
The plan is to succeed this in the first quarter of 2011.
The organisation has two other overseas offices, in London and Hong Kong.
HSBC Middle East is regulated on Jersey, while Emirates NBD, the National Bank of Kuwait and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi all run elements of business on the island

Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded the ratings of three Dubai-based banks -- Emirates NBD,
Mashreqbank PSC and Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC. These ratings were placed under review in August 2009 in response to a weakening of economic conditions in Dubai.

Emirates NBD, the largest bank in the region in terms of assets, announces the appointment of Robbert Jan Voogt as the General Manager of Private Banking.

The new General Manager of Private Banking, Robbert Jan Voogt brings financial expertise from his previous positions at Merrill Lynch and FortisMeesPierson to Emirates NBD. He joins the team after heading the Private Bank South Asia at the Fortis Private Bank in Singapore.

Badr Al-Islami, the Islamic Banking Division of Mashreq, and Standard Chartered Saadiq along with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, First Gulf Bank, Ajman Bank and Arab African International Bank have successfully arranged a USD 347 million Dual Currency Syndicated Islamic Finance Facility for Al Ghurair Center LLC. Mashreq and Standard Chartered Bank were the Bookrunners on this deal. The Facility has a door to door tenor of ten years. Proceeds of the Facility will be used to finance the expansion of Al Ghurair City, a well known mixed used (retail, commercial and residential) complex located in Dubai.

The debt level of Emirates NBD is small and manageable according to analysis given by its CFO, Sanjay Uppal.

USD 1.6 bn medium-term debt is maturing, USD 500 mn has been paid in January already, and the total balance sheet is UDD 76 bn. According to Sanjay Uppal there are no plans to raise capital by selling any of its assets or going for restructuring its debt and sees the exposure to real estate at comfortable levels.

Emirates NBD has an Islamic window.

Emirates NBD has launched a fund to take advantage of the high yields currently available in Sukuk following the steep price declines in Q4 2008 caused by the wider turmoil in global financial markets. The Shari’a-compliant Fund targets annualized returns of c.12% over the next four years.

Jamal Bin Ghalaita, General Manager of Consumer Banking and Wealth Management at Emirates NBD, sees Sukuk as undervalued after panic selling last year.

Minimum investment of USD 25,000 for individual investors and USD 1,000,000 for institutional investors. The secondary sukuk market is difficult to access but, by investing through the Fund, investors benefit from scale, diversification, and the skills of expert fund managers. Should the Fund meet certain return targets, the Fund will be called and gains will be locked in for investors.