IslamicFinance.de

Maybank Islamic (MI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bank Syariah Mandiri (BSM), Indonesia, to set up cross border collaboration in all Islamic treasury and trade finance matters.
This collaboration is going to set the terms of cooperation between the two institutions in relation to enhancing cross-border liquidity flows and, as well as, increasing and diversifying the application of Islamic financial solutions.

Public Mutual wil launch two new Islamic funds, Public Islamic Treasures Growth Fund (PITGF) and Public Sukuk Fund (PSKF) on 19 July 2011.
The first one is an Islamic equity fund that wants to achieve capital growth over the medium- to long-term period by investing primarily in small and medium sized companies, which comply with Shariah principles.
PSKF on the other hand is an Islamic bond fund that has as purpose to provide annual income through investments in sukuk and Islamic money market instruments.

Dubai Investments has secured only a quarter so far of the Dh1.2 billion ($326.7 million) loan it wanted to raise. Because of the political unrest the conglomerate’s manufacturing business is facing setbacks.
In April, the firm said it was in bank talks for a Dh1.2 billion loan to expand its operations, which was to be finalised by May. The loan was going to be used for the expansion of Emirates Float Glass, its glass manufacturing unit in Abu Dhabi and to complete the last phase of its industrial development Dubai Investment Park.

In order to help mobilize funds for businesses around the world, Malaysia will launch a license for an Islamic “mega bank” in the third quarter of this year. The statement came from the country’s central bank governor.
It seems that in the same period, the Southeast Asian nation is also going to start a cross-border clearance platform for sukuk.

A study made by AM Best shows that takaful will continue to be among the fastest growing sectors in the Gulf and Malaysia, with life insurance being the one who provides the greatest opportunity for profitability.
Although life insurance or family takaful offered higher margins and stability, it made up less than 25 % of the contributions received. General takaful, however, has seen varied profitability in the Gulf.

Companies in Bahrain and Bangladesh can choose now to use either conventional or Shariah-compliant banking products and services from HSBC. HSBC Amanah has launched a range of products and services to meet the banking needs of corporates in these countries.
Begining with this December, the following HSBC Amanah corporate banking products are available in Bahrain:
- Business accounts: Funds deposited are used only in a Shariah-compliant manner and customers get related facilities such as cheque books, debit cards and internet banking
- Investment solutions: Meets investors’ short-term investment needs in a Shariah-compliant manner
- Working capital finance solutions: Short to medium-term financing solutions for working capital and liquidity needs based on goods or commodity Murabaha concepts
- Trade finance solutions: Meet the importer's trade and finance requirements based on Murabaha

Waqf Fund will launch the Diploma in Islamic Commercial Jurisprudence aimed primarily at those working for Internal Shari’a Review departments of Islamic Financial Institutions. The program is being offered with the assistance of BIBF.
Khalid Hamad, Chairman of the Waqf Fund, revealed that the programm will have seven modules. The seven modules include: (1) The Theory of Contracts and its Legal Maxims (2) Objectives of Shari’a and Usul Al Fiqh (3) Principles of Fatwa and Applied Jurisprudence (4) Islamic Financial Transactions (5) Fiqh of Zakat and Waqf (6) Fiqh of Takaful (7) Shari’a Auditing and Compliance for IFIs.

DinarStandard™ publicized a listing of 50 Leading Business Schools of the OIC member countries. The listing reveales how OIC based Business Schools are giving leading regional employers access to top talent from within their own neighborhoods with unique expertise in Islamic finance, social entrepreneurship and innovation management.
Some of the insights presented in the listing are:
- Accreditation: Eight B-Schools from the list are AACSB accredited (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.) AACSB is generally regarded as the standard for MBA programs (all US top 20 MBA programs have AACSB accreditation.)
- Geographic breakdown: B-Schools from 16 countries are represented on the list. Malaysia has the highest representation with 8 B-Schools on the list. This is followed by 6 each from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia.
- Most of the programs are English language based and 47 of the 50 on the list offer full-time MBA program.

Tenaga Nasional is going to sell as much as 5 billion ringgit in 20-year Islamic bonds.
The bonds will be formed according to the ijara or Islamic leasing contract.

More than 500 capital management companies and investment funds that are signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) will be required to disclose information about their investment decisions, under a revision of the PRI rules.

The PRI is backed by the UN Environment Programme and the Global Compact, and has signatories from 45 countries with more than $25tn of assets under management.

After all the messages on the billboards and that are streaming over the net and mobile phones, Emirati teens and their counterparts in Saudi Arabia know what they can expect from their banks and how they intend to go about getting it. Moreover, Islamic banking services and products are much preferred by this demographic.
On the other side, banks are also aware of the potential and what needs to be done.

Central Bank of Oman (CBO) arranged a seminar on Islamic banking in collaboration with Ernst & Young, Bahrain.
Speakers at the seminar were worried that the growth prospects for the banking sector would increase by 20% over the next decade, especially since the Islamic banking system was less affected by the recent global financial crisis compared to conventional banks.
The seminar was attended by a large number of chief executives and officials of commercial banks operating in the Sultanate.

Islamic finance has grown about 14% over the past 15 years.
Zainal Izlan Zainal Abidin estimates the Islamic finance industry at about US$1 trillion. It seems that the Islamic finance is penetrating new markets such as in Europe and Africa.
Zainal Izlan Zainal Abidin underlined the fact that guidelines to govern the issuance and offering of a wide range of capital market products and services had been put in place to ensure orderly development of Islamic capital market, and these guidelines were regularly reviewed to ensure their relevance and effectiveness

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum is expanding his responsabilities, having now a presence at or near the top of virtually all of the entities that make up Dubai Inc.
For example, as chairman of The Emirates Group and its eponymous airline, he transports the tourists and businessmen whose spending is a vital part of Dubai's GDP. At the same time, he is chairman of the Supreme Fiscal Committee, the ultimate holder of the emirate's purse strings, and chairman of the Supreme Council of Energy.

Danajamin Nasional Bhd has given Antara Steel Mill Sdn Bhd’s RM300mil 7-year Islamic Securities guarantee, to assist Antara in obtaining long term financing via the sukuk market. AmBank is also participating in the transaction to provide short term working capital financing.

It seems that the Islamic finance industry is curious in tapping Middle Eastern oil money to help fund Thai infrastructure projects, which could help it win a foothold in a market with only a small Muslim population.
During this week Malaysia issued a $2 billion sukuk, almost 30 % of which was consumed by Middle Eastern investors.
Infrastructure investment is expected to have a great start in Thailand as well as other Southeast Asian countries.

Jamal Hijres, Chief Executive Officer at Capinnova Investment Bank, has the strong belief that Bahrain will continue to be one of the leading financial centres in the region due to the efficient regulatory policies adopted by the sector.
He added that Bahrain has tremendously benefited from the solid foundations laid by the country’s efficient economic and financial policies outlined over the preceding years.

Malaysia plans a $2 billion global sukuk offering, with the sukuk launch arranged to be issued in early July.
The issue is Malaysia's second offering in two years and comes at a time when the global sukuk market is showing tentative signs of recovery.

The 1st Quarter 2011 issue of the Malaysian ICM quarterly bulletin published by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is now available online.

Because of the strict rules of Islamic finance, many countries have avoided the worst of the 2008 economic meltdown. Now officials in the Russian republic of Tatarstan are hoping that Islamic finance can help them attract direct investment from Muslim nations around the world.
Delegates from as far afield as Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates were welcomed last week in a summit on Islamic finance in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan.