IslamicFinance.de

Nakheel expects its $10.9 billion debt restructuring process to be completed by the first half of 2011.
It said it will soon issue restructuring agreements, including a term sheet for an Islamic bond offering, to trade creditors that have signed on to its restructuring plan.
Under Nakheel's restructuring proposal, trade creditors will receive repayment through 40 per cent cash and 60 per cent in the form of an Islamic bond, or sukuk.

Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) will pump $3.6 billion into the local commercial property market as the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund seeks to bolster the struggling sector and benefit from plunging prices.
Such huge liquidity in the real estate market will reflect positively on local investment and real estate firms, and the country's bourse as well.

SNR Denton has announced that the firm advised Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC, Al Hilal Bank PJSC, Mubadala GE Capital PJSC, Al Khalij Commercial Bank, Al Khaliji France SA, Ajman Bank PJSC and First Gulf Bank PJSC on their successful participation in a Dh250 million Sharia-compliant facility.
The facility was made available to Emirates National Factory for Plastic Industries LLC, based in Sharjah.

Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) has sold an undisclosed minority stake to Dubai-based Islamic investment firm Fajr Capital as the Asian bank bids to extend its international reach.
Brunei's government has a 45 percent stake in the bank, while the Sultan of Brunei's charitable foundation owns a 25 percent stake.
Javed Ahmad, managing director at BIBD, declined to comment on the exact size of the deal or its value, but when talk surfaced last June that a stake sale might be in the offing,

MARC considers Maybank Islamic to be one of the core subsidiaries of Maybank and an integral part of the Group.
Maybank Islamic’s ratings therefore, reflect a very high probability of support from its parent.
Maybank’s ownership in Maybank Islamic, the operational integration and shared branding, in addition to the strategic role of Maybank Islamic in the Group’s Islamic banking operations are key factors underpinning MARC’s opinion that Maybank Islamic will benefit from the full support and credit strength of the Maybank Group.

The political conflict in the Middle East will make it more expensive for companies in the Arab Gulf such as First Gulf Bank PJSC and Masraf al-Rayan to issue Islamic bonds as relative yields hold near the highest level in more than three months.
First Gulf plans to sell bonds or sukuk this year. Masraf said March 15 it will seek shareholder approval to issue as much as $1 billion of Shariah-compliant debt.

Kuwait Finance House-Bahrain officially opened its new state-of-the-art data centre. It was opened by KFH-Bahrain managing director and chief executive officer Abdulhakeem Alkhayyat.
The opening of the data centre is in line with the bank's strategic expansion plans to provide world-class banking services with maximum security and backup on all its day-to-day transactions.

The agency says the political crisis in Bahrain escalated with the arrival of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) troops, a crackdown on anti-government protests, the arrest of opposition leaders, and the imposition of a 12-hour daily curfew. This increasing tension reinforces fears of prolonged political and economic uncertainty, which is likely to hurt the banks’ financial condition.
The ratings agency’s concerns for the system as a whole are partly mitigated by improved loan-to-deposit ratios and liquid asset levels compared with before the 2008 financial crisis, as banks cut back on new lending.

The agency says the political crisis in Bahrain escalated with the arrival of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) troops, a crackdown on anti-government protests, the arrest of opposition leaders, and the imposition of a 12-hour daily curfew. This increasing tension reinforces fears of prolonged political and economic uncertainty, which is likely to hurt the banks’ financial condition.
The ratings agency’s concerns for the system as a whole are partly mitigated by improved loan-to-deposit ratios and liquid asset levels compared with before the 2008 financial crisis, as banks cut back on new lending.

Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd recently received an award for Corporate Social Responsibility category at the Takaful Awards Night organised for the second time by the Malaysian Takaful Association.
At the event, Takaful IKHLAS had also won four more awards namely: BancaTakaful: Top Person Producer Award, BancaTakaful: Top Person Producer Award - Investment-Link Regular, BancaTakaful: Top Person Producer Award - Investment - Link Single and Young Takaful Manager Award.

CIMB Asset Management has launched a monthly newsletter about the Sukuk market:

"Industry practitioners are positive that 2011 will favour the sukuk industry and various indicators show that a delayed resuscitation of the Islamic bond market is on track this year. As economies recover and high crude oil prices help to revive the market, sales of international sukuk are forecasted to grow over USD22 billion this year, which represents a 29 per cent increase from the previous year. The upswing in corporate spending, an increase in issuers seeking funding diversification and improving investor sentiment in the Gulf are also expected to fuel the sukuk market globally.

According to the HSBC/NASDAQ Dubai US Dollar Sukuk Index, the difference between average yields for emerging-market sukuk and the London interbank offered rate narrowed to 282.7 basis points on
6 January 2011 - the least since August 2008. Industry practitioners agree that the low sukuk yield spreads should entice sukuk issuers to tap the market.

Alberto Brugnoni, ASSAIF, will moderate the Session on 'Finance and philanthropy' at the “4th World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists - Defining the Roadmap for the Next Decade” that will convene at the Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai on March 23-24, 2011

Muslim Philanthropy is at a crossroad, challenged to build new models of giving while simultaneously refining old methods embedded in vibrant Islamic tradition. The foremost challenge in the field is to promote strategic and accountable philanthropy that complements and enhances the generations-old conventional charity, which is often personal and spontaneous

The Session will examine within a common framework the failure of zakat to achieve most of its socio-economic objectives, the stagnation of waqf institutions in performing their designated social functions and the growing divergence between the aspirations of Islamic economics and the realities of the Islamic finance industry. It will also offer actionable programme plans for zakat and innovative ways of using the institution of waqf to establish social enterprises, as possible common solutions

The not-for-profit Jersey Finance opens Abu Dhabi office to tap Gulf wealth from family offices and high networth individuals even as currency fluctuations erode values.
Jersey is a self-governing British Crown Dependency where financial services are the largest industry. Jersey Finance, a not-for-profit organization that is tasked with promoting Jersey as an International Financial Center, has opened a representative office in Abu Dhabi, close on the heels of another in Mumbai, India. It sees a significant outflow of investment from the UAE to offshore jurisdictions.

Nigeria plans to license at least two Islamic financial institutions this year.
It will get help from Malaysia to expand its Sharia-compliant industry in a nation where 70 per cent of people have no access to regular banking services.
Nigeria signed an agreement with Malaysia's central bank to cooperate in Islamic financial services, which included boosting micro-lending.

Gold investment accounts are fast gaining popularity among investors as they are comparatively cheaper to invest in than physical gold.
Taking a cue from their popularity, a growing number of financial institutions are offering these products to their customers as an alternative investment option.
Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Bhd (KFHMB) CEO Jamelah Jamaluddin said demand for gold has risen significantly as buyers ranging from investors, speculators, hedge funds, central banks and the public, continue to buy gold.

Nigeria plans to license at least two Islamic financial institutions by the end of the year and is getting assistance from Malaysia to expand its sharia-compliant industry, in a nation where 70 percent of people have no access to regular banking services.
Central Bank of Nigeria governor Lamido Sanusi said this month that as many as three non-Islamic banks had expressed interest in opening sharia-compliant “windows”.

Malaysia's capital market crossed the RM2 trillion threshold for the first time ever as at end-2010.
In releasing the SC's Annual Report 2010, chairman Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar noted that the capital market had achieved an annual compounded growth rate of 11% from RM717bil in 2000 due to rapid industry expansion and strong regulatory oversight that underpinned investor confidence in the Malaysian capital market.

Though it looks likely to avoid a full-blown currency crisis for now, capital flight from Bahrain is starting to pressure its currency and threaten its position as a Gulf financial center.
The central bank's tight control over the foreign exchange market, and the possibility of other Gulf countries providing financial support to prevent market turmoil from spreading, mean Bahrain is unlikely for the foreseeable future to have to abandon the dinar's peg against the U.S. dollar.

Engku Rabiah Adawiah Engku Ali says she became the first female Islamic finance scholar after failing to progress in her preferred field of juvenile law.
Malaysia’s Shariah Advisory Council has two female scholars on its 11-member board and Indonesia has six women on its panel of 35 experts.
There aren’t any female scholars in Islamic finance in the Middle East as women haven’t found opportunities in the male-dominated field, said Mohamad Nedal Alchaar, secretary general of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, in Manama, Bahrain.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) has got the attention of foreign lawyers who are keen to learn more about Islamic financial instruments for business development and economic reconstruction.
Lawyers from premier firms from 18 cities in the region and from other major financial centers, who congregated here last week to attend the Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of Interlaw, acknowledged Malaysia's specialised expertise in Islamic finance.