IslamicFinance.de

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) celebrated its 40th anniversary with a reception for consuls general organized with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Makkah region, at the bank's headquarters in Jeddah on Wednesday. IDB President Ahmed Muhammad Ali said this was the start of planning for the next 10 years after consulting member states and Muslim communities in nonmember countries. The bank's board of governors would discuss the program of action at its next meeting in June. Ali said the bank prioritizes projects in the least developed member countries, and projects in education. IDB’s commitment to help boost economic growth is evident from the rise in total financing from $8.3 billion in 2011 to $9.8 billion in 2012, an 18.4 percent increase.

The indebted Kuwaiti shareholder of British luxury carmaker Aston Martin has persuaded just under a third of its creditors to accept a debt restructuring deal that offers them shares in a portfolio of its assets. The sharia-compliant investor defaulted on a $100 million Islamic bond payment in 2009, leading it to restructure around $3.7 billion in debt two years later. Under the new deal which was accepted by 29% of Investment Dar's creditors, they settled claims at a 62.6 percent discount in exchange for cash, debt and equity held by a vehicle based in Jersey. In May, Investment Dar said creditors which did not want to take part in the offer could retain their claims under an original restructuring plan, which offered creditors a 10 percent stake.

Marking the international anti-corruption day, IDB Vice-President (Operations) Mr. Birama Boubacar Sidibe reiterated the need to recognize fraud and corruption as one of the greatest obstacles to socio-economic development and undermining policies and projects aimed at alleviating poverty world-wide. He stated that the IDB Group takes pride that its policies and programs are in line with the core Islamic values of integrity, ethics and preventing fraud and corruption. The event was organized by IDB's Group Integrity Office (GIO) which holds annual awareness raising activities. In line with its fraud and corruption prevention mandate, the IDB Group has adopted several key anti-corruption policies and guidelines to fight corruption. A multi-lingual 24/7 "Speak-up Hotline" to report corruption is expected to be launched in IDB shortly.

Moody's Investors Service has today assigned a first-time Baa2 insurance financial strength rating (IFSR) to Damaan Islamic Insurance Company "Beema" (C.Q.S.C.) ("Beema "), based in Qatar . The rating was assigned with a stable outlook. The rating reflects Beema's good market position, strong growth potential and a lower-risk investment portfolio. Furthermore, Beema has demonstrated good underwriting results that have led to a growth in consolidated equity. Business diversification and product risk, considering the modest size of Beema, is also considered strong. However, offsetting this is the relatively high concentration Beemadisplays in terms of its geography. Furthermore, the financial and total leverage have increased materially in recent quarters.

The Middle East's billionaires – with a combined net worth of US$354 billion – hold a higher percentage of total wealth than in any other region in the world, findings from the Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2013 show. Forty percent of the Middle East's ultra high net worth (UHNW) wealth is being held by the region's 157 billionaires, compared to 28 percent in Europe, 22 percent in North America and 18 percent in Asia. Saudi Arabia leads the region with the most billionaires (64). Middle East is the region with the fourth most billionaires – after Europe (766), North America (552) and Asia. Middle Eastern billionaires increased their wealth in the last year by US$39 billion (12.4 percent) with five additional billionaires (3.3 percent).

The Gulf Monetary Council has dismissed media reports that it had set a date for the launch of a single currency for Arab Gulf countries. The Monetary Council is mandated with placing regulations for the establishment of the Gulf Central Bank and completing the establishment of the Monetary Union. Media reports this week said that four of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries would announce the introduction of a common currency by the end of December. The common currency to be announced by Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia will be pegged to the Dollar, the reports said. The GCC countries have been discussing a currency union similar to the Eurozone for more than 15 years.

Bahrain's Ibdar Bank was launched as a brand on Monday following the merger of Capivest, Elaf Bank and Capital Management House, after more than a year of negotiations between the Bahraini lenders and authorities. Ibdar hopes to leverage the combined expertise of its predecessor banks and a larger balance sheet to win business. The Islamic lender now has $300 million of paid up capital, $329 million in equity and assets of $360 million, which it hopes can help it win deals in its focus areas of capital markets, private equity and real estate. Ibdar is not leveraged and will retain Elaf Bank's licence in Malaysia to support a geographical scope that includes the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.

AAOIFI Accounting standards reflect concept and essence of Islamic finance transactions and can enhance confidence of users of Islamic finance products and promote growth of demand. This was the conclusion at the AAOIFI-World Bank Annual Conference on Islamic Banking and Finance which was held in Bahrain on 18 & 19 November 2013. The conference also discussed venture capital from an Islamic finance point of view, proposing a model based on a musharaka/partnership arrangement. Moreover, the main types of risks faced by Islamic financial institutions such as non-compliance risks, operational risks, financial risks, and so on were outlined. The conference wrapped up by presenting some guidelines about how AAOIFI standards can be promoted in countries that follow international accounting standards or IFRS.

As part of its ongoing commitment to support Saudi sports, Bank AlJazira is geared up to kick off its new sports marketing campaign “support with passion,” which will be launched on Dec. 1. Through this campaign, Bank AlJazira will reveal the new set of club-themed credit cards that will carry colors and logos of 7 Saudi football clubs which have the widest fan base. This credit card will give the fans of Saudi football clubs a practical tool to express their passion and support for the club they admire in a unique way. The new campaign from Bank AlJazira will feature Al-Fateh, Al-Shabab, Al-Nasr, Al-Ahli, Al-Ettifaq, Al-Ittihad and Al-Wehda clubs. Fans now can browse various sets of designs for each card, with the opportunity to get incentives rewards and attractive awards in addition to star-related and club-official items.

Dubai Holding, a conglomerate owned by the emirate's ruler, and Kuwait's Al Fajer Re plan to launch a Emirates Retakafulfirm with $500m of authorised capital in January to tap unserved demand in retakaful. The new firm, Emirates Retakaful, will be set up in the Dubai International Financial Centre, said Fareed Lutfi, director of insurance services at Dubai Holding. There will be scope to add more investors to the firm, he added. Emirates Retakaful will focus on covering general takaful business, such as oil- and aviation-related risks, and later explore family takaful risk.

Power cables and wires manufacturer Ducab has taken a strategic initiative to convert its conventional metals hedging practices into Islamic structures. The ultimate objective of this initiative is to persuade global metal exchanges to adopt the product as one of the standard traded offerings. This new hedging opportunity was placed under the spotlight at the 2013 Global Islamic Economy Summit, which took place on 25 and 26 November, as Ducab seeks to promote the Sharia-compliant hedging to other major companies in the MENA region.

The Central Bank of Bahrain yesterday announced that the monthly issue of the Sukuk Al Salam Islamic securities for the BD36 million issue, which carries a maturity of 91 days, has been oversubscribed by 102 per cent. The expected return on the issue, which begins tomorrow and matures on February 26 next year, is 0.85pc, compared with 0.85pc for the previous issue.

The CMA Board has issued its resolution approving the offering of Saudi Electricity Company's sukuk. The total offering size will be determined at a later stage by the Company. The prospectus will be published to the investors in due course.

Dubai is in talks with Islamic endowments, or awqaf, in other countries to promote its drive for the industry to become more efficient and profit-oriented. Dubai wants to become a centre for modernising awqaf and coordinating their activities in order to make them more financially successful. The Emirate plans to establish an international body during the first half of next year that would handle cooperation with other emirates and countries. It would be managed jointly by members and include non-awqaf charities that operated in similar ways. In March, Dubai said it was launching the new asset management firm NoorAwqaf that would specialise in handling awqaf assets. With 10 million dirhams ($2.7 million) of paid-up capital, the new firm would offer services including due diligence, financial analysis and assisting awqaf to develop their strategic objectives.

According to Kuwait Finance House (KFH) CEO Mohammed Al-Omar, the continuous increase in profit over five consecutive quarters underlines the success of the restructuring process and the management's decision to focus on main operations to achieve sustainable profit, offer better returns to shareholders and depositors, and easing burden off the institution. He explained that that a rearrangement of the real estate portfolio is occuring, to benefit from current developments in the real estate market, in terms of rates and shifting to certain kinds of real estate and land. Furthermore, Al-Omar noted that the strategy that KFH adopted regarding its overseas banks, has played a role in cementing their roles and making them more profitable.

Ooredoo QSC has mandated DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, QInvest and QNB Capital to act as joint lead managers and Bookrunners for a proposed US dollar Reg S benchmark Sukuk offering. The offering is expected to be launched, subject to market conditions, following investor roadshows starting 22 November covering Asia, Middle East and Europe.

Noor Islamic Bank (Noor) announced a waiver on all remittance charges for clients wishing to send money to relatives in the Philippines, in the wake of the Super Typhoon Haiyan. In addition, the Islamic bank has said that any of its corporate clients wishing to donate funds to the Philippines relief effort will have the processing charges waived. The decision to waive remittance and processing charges will remain in place until December 31, 2013. Individuals and organisations must have a Noor bank account to take advantage of the zero charges.

Saudi real estate firm Dar Al Arkan (B+ from S&P) has launched a $300 million, three-year sukuk offering at 6 percent. The Reg S only deal is expected to price later on Wednesday via Bank Al Khair, BAML, DB, Emirates NBD Capital and GS. The sukuk al-wakala will mature on Nov. 25, 2016.

According to Thomson Reuters Global Islamic Asset Management Report 2014, assets under management of GCC Islamic funds have been increasing, post global financial crisis and the 2011 political turmoil in the Arab world. However, assets under management (AUM) have been decreasing for the global Islamic fund industry. While Islamic funds globally have doubled since 2007, the AUM have marginally gone up in the last few years, and have in fact declined 1.7 per cent in 2013. Of the total $62 billion assets under management, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia Luxembourg comprise the top three Islamic fund hubs. The full report will be released next week at the Global Islamic Economy summit in Dubai.

The Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions ( AAOIFI ) hosted the two day AAOIFI -World Bank Annual Conference on Islamic Banking and Finance 18-19 November in Manama, Bahrain. Discussions at the conference focused on international accounting standards for Islamic finance, the dynamics of auditing and risks, incorporation of Shari'ah principles in legal documentation, further innovation on Takaful operations and products, and continuing development of Islamic venture capital. Following the Conference, AAOIFI will hold training courses for its Certified Shari'ah Adviser and Auditor (CSAA) and Certified Islamic Professional Accountant (CIPA) professional development programs 20-23 November 2013.