IslamicFinance.de

After a string of sukuk issued for purposes of liquidity, Senegal’s recent sukuk bought a welcome return to an Islamic finance transaction for the purposes of social good. Senegal closed its sukuk in late July, marking its second sovereign sukuk issuance. The West African nation will use the proceeds of the CFA 150 billion transaction to finance a drinking water supply program and an implementation program of road network and street lighting. The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) sells bonds on the capital markets to raise funds to save children’s lives. IFFIm has so far issued two sukuk with a December 2014 transaction for $500 million and a September 2015 transaction for $200 million. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) issued a five-year Sukuk in 2015 which was used to support IFC’s developmental financing activities in the Middle East and North Africa. Mahmoud Mohieldin of the World Bank Group said the group planned the issuance of an inaugural humanitarian sukuk program.

The federal government has asked for the scaling up of Islamic Development Bank’s (IDB’s) concessional resource and increased overall financing to Nigeria and other African member countries of the bank. Speaking at the inauguration of the IDB Country Gateway Office (CGO) in Abuja, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said there are immense opportunities in Nigeria. The minister pointed out that Nigeria requires far more resources to face the challenges and diversify its economy. She also urged the the IDB Group to help in the recently constituted Buhari Plan for the Revitalisation of the Northeast Region of Nigeria.

Saudi companies willing to become public holding firms have slowed down the process, following a drop in prices of new companies listed in local share markets dealings. The forbearance of Saudi companies affected the region’s market. Saudi share market concluded the first week sessions with a slight drop and it closed at 6,212 points amid USD613.3 million (SAR2.3 billion) monetary liquidity, which is considered the least in five years. Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) continued its positive movements to enhance performance of local insurance companies.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group formally opened its Nigeria Country Gateway Office in Abuja. The new office has the mission to focus its services on health, agriculture, infrastructure, small and medium-scale enterprise and regional integration. IDB President Ahmad Ali said the group’s presence in Nigeria would strengthen socio-economic, technical and commercial cooperation between the bank and member countries in Africa. He added that this was important with the completion of the last portion of Trans Saharan Road linking Algiers in North Africa and Lagos. The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun urged the IDB to support Nigeria’s effort to reconstruct the North East part of Nigeria devastated by years of militancy by insurgent group, Boko Haram.

#UAE based National Bonds has started providing financial planning tips and tools via its website. The new financial planning section offers valuable information in both Arabic and English to help customers achieve their financial objectives. Topics cover planning for retirement and children’s education, debt management, investment solutions, takaful and estate planning. In addition, the website offers practical financial planning tips on goal setting, cash management and budgeting, financial health, and the rule of 72. The portal also includes online calculators for accurately computing expenses, commitments and budgets. Mohammed Qasim Al-Ali, CEO of National Bonds, said the new online tool will save time and effort for those looking for simple and straightforward financial planning.

Bosna Bank International announced its first-half net profit jumped to 3.2 million marka ($1.8 million/1.6 million euro) from 1.4 million marka in the same period last year. The lender's net interest income increased 31.5% to 10.9 million marka through June, while net fee and commission income rose 12.9% to 5.1 million marka. The bank's total assets stood at 768.7 million marka at the end of June.

In #SouthAfrica First National Bank (FNB) has been offering an Islamic home loan since the beginning of the year. The product is aimed at Muslims who want to finance their homes in a manner consistent with the requirements of their faith. But, like all Islamic financial products and services, it is open to everyone. FNB Islamic Banking’s home loan is not strictly a loan. It is modelled on what is known as a diminishing musharaka type of financial transaction. Amman Muhammad, the chief executive of FNB Islamic Banking, says the main advantage of the Islamic home loan is that it offers a competitive fixed-price deal in volatile economic conditions. Also offering Islamic residential property financing is the local arm of the international Al Baraka Bank.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has promised to continue its support for Jaiz Bank Nigeria given that that Jaiz bank now has a national licence. IDB president Ahmad Mohamed Ali assured officials that IDB as an institution will continue to assist the Jaiz Bank. Chairman of the Jaiz Bank, Alhaji Umar Mutallab said with Jaiz bank’s newly acquired national licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, the bank will soon start rolling out services nationwide. IDB is a shareholder in the Jaiz bank.

Al Baraka Bank has finished due diligence for the proposed merger of Burj Bank. Abid Qamar, chief spokesman at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), said Al Baraka was given permission for due diligence of Burj Bank and they have completed the process. Summit Bank and Bank of Khyber were also interested in Burj Bank, but they did not carry out any due diligence process. The deal is expected to be completed within next three months, but the complete integration of both entities would take six to eight months. The potential deal would be a part of the significant efforts, currently being made by the SBP, to fix the problem of the small banks that fell below the minimum capital adequacy ratio requirement and minimum paid-up capital requirement.

The board of directors of Shahjalal Islami Bank has approved for issuance of Mudaraba Subordinated Bond worth Tk 4.0 billion. The new issuance is part of a process of inclusion in Tier-II Capital for a period of 7 years through private placement. The bond issue is subject to approval of the regulatory authorities – Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission. The bank’s paid-up capital is Tk 7,346.88 million and authorised capital is Tk 10,000 million, while total number of securities is 734,688,133.

Malaysia’s Islamic insurers are considering a move into Europe by targeting the continent’s growing Muslim population. Amat Taap Manshor, chief of the Financial Accreditation Agency (FAA), said it may not happen right away but a lot of Islamic insurers are looking to target the Muslim middle classes in the UK, Germany and France. Manshor made the comments during the signing of a memorandum of collaboration between the FAA and the British accreditation council (BAC). The partnership hopes to offer financial services globally accredited courses in Islamic finance.

Al Hilal Bank's new CIO Gopi Krishnan is calling on fintech CEOs to get in touch and collaborate. Krishnan moves from another regional bank, Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), where he was CIO since 2012. Prior to that, he was with BankMuscat International as programme director in charge of transformation, enterprise project management office and group integration. Al Hilal Bank offers Islamic banking services in the retail, corporate, wholesale, treasury and investment segments. Its core operations are underpinned by the T24 banking platform supplied by Temenos.

#Malaysia Building Society's (MBSB) move to strengthen its presence in Islamic banking is in line with majority shareholder Employees Provident Fund’s (EPF) endeavour. MBSB president Datuk Ahmad Zaini Othman said being a prominent Islamic player would help the firm’s growth plan. MBSB aspires to graduate from a non-lender into a full-fledged Islamic bank to increase its competitiveness. For the first six months ended June, MBSB’s net profit dropped 53.4% to RM97.8 million, despite an 11.6% jump in revenue to RM1.6 billion. The first-half results were below estimates, with operating income declining 1.8% as management continued to focus on corporate loans portfolio in place of the higher-yielding personal financing portfolio.

Dr. Bambang Permadi Soemantri Brodjonegoro, Indonesia’s former Finance Minister and current Minister of National Development Planning, discusses the recent tax amnesty legislation and current economic prospects for Indonesia. Hosting the recent 12th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) in Jakarta aims to promote Indonesia to the Muslim community, sending a message that Indonesia is a reliable economy with a lot of potential. The WIEF tries to develop Islamic finance that is more inclusive. Indonesia wants to focus on Islamic microfinance and on Muslim-friendly tourism. Beyond tourism, Muslim fashion is a sector that already has a huge market and will be increasingly important for Indonesia.

Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank GFH Financial Group (GFH) has signed a memorandum of understanding to buy a majority stake in Bank Al Khair. Founded in 2004, Bank Al Khair is an Islamic bank with total assets of $580.5 million as of March 2016. The deal is subject to approval by the boards of directors and shareholders of the banks, as well as completion of due diligence and regulatory approvals.

A 2% tax cut announced for all Shariah-compliant companies is bound to give a big boost to Islamic Banking in Pakistan. The government has introduced the 2% rebate for Shariah-compliant companies through the Finance Act 2016. The Finance Act also covers the entire national budget for the fiscal year 2017. The latest decision to expand the programme followed a report by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which confirmed a continuing spread of the Islamic banking system in the country. Islamic banks currently have a 13% share of the conventional banking in Pakistan.

JPMorgan will include sukuk in its emerging markets indices starting from October 31. Dollar-denominated sukuk from Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia will be included in JPMorgan’s flagship EMBI Global Diversified index, against which an estimated $313 billion in assets is benchmarked. The move could help sukuk break away from their traditional buy-and-hold investor base. Pakistan’s $1 billion sukuk maturing in 2019 will be included in the JPMorgan Asia Credit Index alongside sukuk from Indonesia and Malaysia, but Qatar and Bahrain are currently absent. Only two corporate sukuk will be included in the JPMorgan Corporate Emerging Markets Bond Index: a 2023 sukuk from Dubai’s DP World and a 2024 sukuk from Saudi Electricity Co.

The Indonesian government has launched a national master plan to develop its Islamic finance industry. Indonesian Islamic banks hold roughly 5% of total banking assets, compared with more than 20% in neighbouring Malaysia. According to Farrukh Raza, managing director of IFAAS, an Islamic finance consultancy which designed the 10-year master plan, the government would increase its use of Islamic debt instruments to as much as 50% of total issuance in 10 years time. Indonesia's pilgrims' fund would also see the establishment of a dedicated asset management arm to implement a more rigorous investment policy and attract external fund managers.

#Malaysia-based International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp (IILM) has lengthened maturities in its Islamic bond programme by auctioning $500 million of four-month sukuk. Previously, the IILM has issued three-month and six-month papers, which were introduced to manage short-term funding needs. The IILM sold the four-month sukuk at a profit rate of 1.37389%, attracting 17 bids worth a combined $1.3 billion. It also sold $840 million of three-month sukuk at a profit rate of 1.24411%, attracting orders of $1.6 billion via 14 bids. The issues were bought by 11 primary dealer banks.

Ahli United Bank Kuwait has obtained approval from Kuwait's central bank to issue capital-boosting sukuk worth up to $200 million. The bank did not give a time frame for the issue but said it could include foreign and domestic currency tranches. The proceeds would be used to enhance the bank's capital base in line with Basel III global banking standards. Last year Kuwait's Capital Markets Authority released rules providing a legal basis for issuance of Islamic bonds, which is helping boost sales of sukuk. Kuwait's Gulf Bank and Boubyan Bank have both completed sukuk issues this year.