IslamicFinance.de

Al Khonji Real Estate & Development (Aqar) signed today that it has hired the services of Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB), to advice and supervise its future course of actions and transactions in light of Shari'a principles. Mohamed Al Khonji, Chairman/CEO, said that it has decided to spread its wings in the real estate market while ensuring it is truly Shari'a compliant. The assignment of Shariyah Review Bureau is expected to help developing an enterprise-wide Shari'a compliant framework, which will cover compliance with Islamic finance across all function streams in Aqar.

Developer Nakheel is in talks to extend 8 billion dirhams ($2.18 billion) in loans due in 2015, according to its chairman Ali Rashid Lootah. The bank loans under consideration include 6.76 billion dirhams in secured facilities provided by, among others, Dubai's biggest bank Emirates NBD as well as 470 million dirhams in unsecured facilities, all due in 2016. Nakheel reported a 57-percent rise in annual profit in January. It also made interest and profit payments of around 800 million dirhams to lenders last year and has paid around 10 billion dirhams to various trade creditors and contractors since the start of its debt restructuring.

Qatar-based Barwa Bank has become one of the top 10 underwriters of Arabian Gulf Islamic bonds within three years of opening and plans to seek a credit rating in the second half before a possible sukuk sale. The bank arranged US$863 million of notes in 2012, and is considering its own issuance of sukuk. In addition to sovereign clients, Barwa helped Dubai-based Emaar Properties and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank sell Islamic notes in 2012. The lender had assets of 21.5bn Qatari riyals at the end of June.

The sukuk, which comes amid a period of high demand and a flurry of bond sales in the region, is to be launched by the end of April in the name of Dubai Investments Park, a major real estate development Dubai Investments owns on Dubai's outskirts.

Al Rajhi Bank has launched a new online banking portal to provide its customers with online self-service tools. The new internet banking platform is built using Backbase's Bank 2.0 Portal technology and implemented by Al Rajhi's IT department in partnership with Thales. Backbase allows the banking client to be in control of their portal and makes it possible for Al Rajhi customers to customize their banking interface to their personal needs and preferences. For the e-business side, Backbase allows for cross- and up-sell capabilities along with the ability to target relevant content and functionality to the right customer segments and individual customers.

Ajman Bank generated net income of Dh33.5 million (US$9.1m) during last year, compared to profit of Dh6.9m a year earlier. However, Ajman's fourth-quarter profits fell 29.5 per cent to Dh8.3m. The bank did not provide detailed financial statements or an explanation of the drop in quarterly income. Ajman said its increase in income was mainly generated through corporate banking, lending to small and mid-sized businesses and treasury operations. The bank's revenues and shares rose as well.

Emirati nationals are "blindly" signing up for personal loans that they are unable to pay back later, according to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, UAE deputy prime minister. Because of this, UAE authorities set aside AED1.05bn (US$410m) for the Nationals' Defaulted Debts Settlement Fund, a programme aimed at clearing defaulted debts owed by Emirati nationals. Any person that with personal loan debts and not commercial or trade loans unpaid before December 2011 will have it covered by the programme. 17 banks take part in the fund which has dealt with approximately half of the 3,200 registered Emirati applicants.

Saudi Arabia has appointed Mohammad al-Sheikh to head the Capital Market Authority, replacing Abdulrahman al-Tuwaijri, who had been at the helm of the agency since 2006. Mr Sheikh’s financial and legal background should help with his new role as the kingdom pushes forward with its plans to open up its nearly $400bn stock market to direct international buyers for the first time. This appointment is the latest in a series of reshuffles in the financial and political teams in Saudi Arabia, shifting towards private sector expertise.

Geopolitics have a growing weight on consumer banking in Dubai because it is the Middle East's banking centre and geographically close to major countries targeted by sanctions. In theory, as long as money does not have criminal links or belong to people or companies directly targeted by international sanctions, banks should be able to accept it. But in practice, the costs of checking that rules are obeyed have become so high that banks are turning down some deposits in advance. The costs of regulatory compliance could slow Dubai's banking growth. Especially Syrian, Iranian and U.S. citizens are being affected by this concern.

The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has a tax system that enables sukuk transactions to be carried out without excessive tax costs, according to a study conducted by the experts Mohamed Amin, Salah Gueydi and Hafiz Choudhury. The study reviewed the tax treatment of four common Islamic finance structures ‘murabaha’, ‘sukuk’, ‘salaam’ and ‘istisna’ in the eight Mena countries. Mr. Amin said the study shows clearly that the additional transactions required by Islamic finance are at risk of being subject to taxes, and can make Islamic finance transactions prohibitively expensive. Only Turkey and the QFC have modified their tax laws to facilitate Islamic finance.

Path Solutions, provider of Islamic banking software, has announced the deployment and successful rollout of iMAL Islamic core banking system at all five Al Hilal Islamic Banking Services branches of Ahlibank. iMAL was implemented using Microsoft Windows OS and Sybase Software. According to Ahlibank CEO Abdul Aziz Al Balushi, iMAL will enable the delivery of Islamic banking products and services whilst ensuring full compliance with the Sharia guidelines and local regulations.

Kuwait's Capital Market Authority (CMA) published a statement on Tuesday about self-regulation by Islamic financial institutions to ensure compliance with Shariah standards. The statement recommends to appoint a sufficient number of legal observers in accordance with the size of the institution and to provide full transparency in their communications with compliance officers. The CMA also urged companies’ sharia boards to take more care to issue rulings that were in line with each other.

The Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) has said the number of real estate investment funds in the kingdom has so far reached 58 funds and there has been tremendous turnout among real estate developers and investors to float more funds. The market regulator has issued guidelines to regulate investments in this sector to avoid non-organised real estate investment, which has had a negative impact on many citizens in a bid to streamline group investment on the real estate sector and allow investors, especially young and small categories.

According to HSBC, global Islamic bond sales are set to surpass sales from 2012 by 64%. Mohammed Dawood, Dubai-based MD of debt capital markets at HSBC Amanah, says that sales in the six-nation GCC will surge to between $30bn and $35bn this year. The Dubai government kicked off sovereign sukuk sales last month with $750m of 10-year Islamic notes after its borrowing costs fell 40%. Standard and Poor’s estimates show that Islamic financial assets will double by 2015 to $3-trillion.

Bahrain's bankrupt Arcapita Bank BSC, after negotiations with creditors, filed in New York bankruptcy court on Friday a proposed Chapter 11 reorganization plan that calls for a $185 million exit financing package. According to the bank the package will allow it to wind down its operations, sell off its assets and maximize recovery for creditors. Arcapita will set up new operating companies and most unsecured creditors will give up their claims in exchange for equity in the new company.

Dubai Islamic Bank, Sharjah Islamic Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank are more than tripling Bank of Khartoum’s capital to around $225 million after it gained a short-term ‘A-1’ rating from The Islamic International Rating Agency last week. Bank of Khartoum’s General Manager Fadi Faqih said its bank wants to boost its agricultural finance business by preparing a fund to attract direct investment from mainly Gulf banks to invest into Sudan's agricultural sector. Bank of Khartoum also plans to arrange Sukuk for corporate clients in the infrastructure and utility sector for some 150 million pounds this year.

Al Jazeera Finance (AJF) has signed a $95m (QR345.8m) 3-year dual currency Murabaha facility with a syndicate of banks from the GCC. QInvest acted as sole bookrunner and structuring adviser to AJF. Qatar Islamic Bank took the Mandate Lead Arranger (MLA) role and is also acting as the Investment Agent. Ahli United Bank, First Gulf Bank UAE and QInvest were the Lead Arrangers. According to Amer Al Jabri, Chief Executive Officer of AJF, the agreement is an important stepping stone towards diversifying AJF's funding sources, and reaching out to a wider group of banking relationships.

Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank is planning to liquidate its assets, and will not seek out new investors or investments, according to its reorganisation plan. Creditors will be given equity in two new companies that hold all the assets of Arcapita and several related companies. The proposal also envisions a new $550 million sukuk to be issued to the unsecured creditors. The reorganisation plan will be submitted to creditors for a vote and to the US court for confirmation.

The three Bahraini Islamic banks Capivest, Elaf Bank and Capital Management House have completed their merging into a single entity with total assets worth over $400m and total equity of around $340m. Shareholders had given their approval to the tie-up at the end of June. Advisors on the three-way merger were Deloitte and law firms Trowers & Hamlins and Elham Ali Hassan and Associates.

This role is significant in growing our position as Top 3 GTS bank in the UAE and the GCC, bringing together effective product management and development disciplines across all Trade & Supply Chain as well as PCM product sets including collections, disbursements, channel and liquidity management, demanding in-depth knowledge and understanding of the entire cash management customer value proposition as is detailed in the Key Result Area section.