IslamicFinance.de

The global market for Islamic bonds, or sukuk, returned to growth last year, shaking off the lingering effects of the global financial crisis.
After two turbulent years, the market started making a strong comeback at the end of 2010. While Malaysia continues to dominate the sukuk market, accounting for 78 percent of total issuances in 2010.
The Gulf region is expected to play a larger and more sustainable role in the sukuk market in the future, according to research by S.&P., in the expectation of a gradual recovery in economic activities and the region’s need to finance the huge pipeline of government projects and infrastructure for events planned for the coming years, like the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Ted Pretty, the chief executive of investment bank Gulf Finance House was asked to leave and will not return to the bank.
What Pretty was really brought on to do was swing the axe and lead a brutal cost-cutting and debt rescheduling program to try and fix the damage done to the bank by its over-ambitious real estate plans at the height of the Dubai property boom . Despite this the firm has struggled to build revenues.

The over-insured but tiny Malaysian Takaful market may be about to see yet another new entrant. It seems that Allianz Malaysia is about to enter the market by acquiring a stake in Takaful Ikhlas.
The Malaysian Takaful market is worth around $10bn and is attractive to new entrants more for its growth potential rather than its present value. The market is growing at between 15% and 20% a year.

The Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) Pakistan has appointed Azhar Aslam as head of Islamic banking.
Azhar Aslam joins the bank from Dubai Islamic Bank where he was Country Head, Corporate and Investment Banking.

In the oppinion of National Bank of Abu Dhabi and EFG-Hermes UAE Ltd, Abu Dhabi may find it cheaper to borrow with Islamic bonds than non-Sharia compliant securities.
Abu Dhabi government officials will meet fixed-income investors in Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore. Standard Chartered is arranging the meetings and the sit-downs with investors aren't related to an immediate transaction.

Qatar's Masraf Al Rayan plans to ask its shareholders to approve a Euro medium-term notes programme which could see it issue a $1bn Sukuk.
The bank also plans to issue the bond after it gains approval and after its share capital is fully paid.

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) and the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies convened a two-day closed door Roundtable on Islamic Finance in Oxfordshire, England, over the weekend.
A select group of key industry practitioners, senior academicians, Shariah scholars, standard setters and regulators from around the world discussed three topics under the theme "Islamic Finance and the Public Good".

EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ISLAMIC ECONOMICS AND FINANCE

SUSTAINABLE GROWTH AND INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FROM AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Doha, Qatar - December 25-27, 2011

CALL FOR PAPERS

The global economy continues to face the perennial problems of poverty, persistent youth unemployment, excessive inequalities of income and wealth, high levels of inflation, large macroeconomic and budgetary imbalances, exorbitant debt-servicing burdens, inadequate and aging public utilities and infrastructure, skyrocketing energy prices, and growing food insecurity. The reoccurring regional and global financial crises further intensify and magnify these problems particularly for the underprivileged segments of the world population. As a result, many countries are at the risk of failing to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations. However, some countries also present optimistic experiences to share, and from which useful lessons can be drawn for shaping the future economic scene in other countries.

AssetCo, the troubled firm that owns London's fire engines, has rejected a takeover approach from an Islamic investment fund.
Shares in the emergency services company jumped by a fifth yesterday as it revealed that the board had rebuffed an 'opportunistic' cash offer from Bahrain-based private equity firm Arcapita.
Arcapita said the approach had been supported by AssetCo chief executive and largest shareholder John Shannon and it was 'still considering its options'.

An Islamic SWF, also seen as a fund-of-funds, may actually be the necessary spark to jump-start a global Islamic asset management or, in today's hub-centric parlance, an Islamic asset management hub!
The industry has been talking up an Islamic mega bank for a few years, from Sh Saleh Kamal to Malaysia
In the post-crisis period, G-20 regulators are examining "ways and means" to reduce the systemic risk.associated with the mega-banks. Islamic finance industry, without a lender of last resort and sporadic Islamic deposit insurance, needs to examine the suggestions before wholesale adoption of a proposed mega bank.

Bahrain braced for more protests Monday as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states reportedly prepared to send troops to help restore order in the strategic kingdom.
The Financial Harbour business complex was blocked off by protesters a day after more than 200 people were injured there in clashes between riot police and demonstrators.
It was the worst day of violence in the tiny Gulf kingdom since seven people were killed at the start of anti-regime unrest in mid-February.

Many women have and are still contributing to the development of the contemporary Islamic finance movement, and yet their contribution, except in countries such as Malaysia, has largely been marginalized by an industry that is still dominated by middle class men.
The issue of gender equality and empowerment is one that affects all societies whether in the West or East. The issue of unequal payment for the same jobs in the City of London, one of the world's largest financial centers, is still entrenched. The number of women on the boards of FTSE 100 companies is still woefully low.

Qatar First Investment Bank gave the announcement that its portfolio company Emirates National Factory for Plastic Industries (ENPI) has signed a new five-year, Dh250m syndicated Islamic facility, arranged by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. The signing ceremony took place at Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank headquarters in Abu Dhabi.
The financing will be used for the construction of a new production facility in Industrial City of Abu Dhabi 1 ("ICAD 1"), the purchase of new machinery and equipment and the refinancing of a portion of the company's existing conventional debt.

Bahrain Central Bank Governor Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj said that so far it hasn't been seen any kind of adverse impact on the country’s banking sector. All banks are operating normally and transactions are handled at normal levels.
About withdrawals from banks due to concerns over the situation, he said he could not comment on expectations or speculations.

Islamic finance has been given the boost it needed in the Gulf by a Qatari ban on conventional banks offering sharia-compliant services.
Qatar's move last month draws a line in the sand between Islamic banks and their conventional peers, which control 83 percent of the region's banking assets.
If Qatar's move to separate conventional and sharia-compliant operations is mirrored by other central banks eager to prove their commitment to the nearly $1 trillion Islamic finance industry, this will be higher.

Malaysia's Bio-XCell is finalizing the details of a yet undisclosed commodity Murabahah facility with a leading local bank.
The financing is estimated to be around RM250m ($82.2m). Details have not yet become available but signing of the agreements should take place in a few weeks.

Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) plan to issue up to two mega Islamic bank licences is still on progress. The right investors must be found.
Datuk Mohd Razif Abdul Kadir, the deputy governor, said BNM hoped to issue the licences this year.

Bahrain's Gulf Finance House GFHB.BH (GFHK.KW) Chief Executive Ted Pretty, who cut costs and rolled over debt but failed to kick start revenues, has left the cash-strapped firm.
A second source confirmed the departure. The sources said that disputes with GFH's Executive Chairman Esam Janahi were the main cause for his departure.
GFH denied, however, that Pretty had left the company for good.

The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) is expected to issue the first Shariah-compliant financial instruments by year-end.
The minimum size of the instruments could be US$300 million depending on the market demand.
The IILM was established on October 2010 with 14 founding shareholders, comprising the 12 central banks of Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia,Mauritius, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as two multi-lateral institutions, the Islamic Development Bank and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector.

Standard & Poor's commented today about the negative rating actions it has taken on several banks and insurance companies following sovereign rating actions in the Middle East and Africa since the unrest began: four banks in Tunisia, two banks in Egypt, two banks and one insurance company in Jordan, and four banks and three insurance companies in Bahrain.