IslamicFinance.de

Bahrain’s Al Baraka Bank deems that the regulatory framework in Morocco is conducive for the launch of an Islamic finance venture. The Bank’s Chief Executive, Adnan Ahmed Yousif said Al Baraka targets the expanding Islamic finance in Morocco in effort to diversify assets and revenues in Africa. Morocco is attractive for Islamic banks because of a competitive landscape that is free from large western lenders. Yousif added that reforms were being considered, but complete tax neutrality towards Islamic finance contracts was still needed. Bahrain’s Al Baraka group forged a partnership with Morocco’s BMCE Bank of Africa to create AL Baraka Maroc, which aims at creating a network of 25 agencies in Morocco.

Six Malaysian Islamic banks have agreed to jointly develop a waqf fund which focuses on projects in four areas — economic empowerment, education, health and investment.
The banks are namely: Affin Islamic Bank Bhd, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd, Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd (Bank Rakyat), Maybank Islamic Bhd and RHB Islamic Bank Bhd . They have signed a Waqf Fund Strategic Collaboration Agreement.

The strongly growing popularity of Islamic banking and Islamic finance and its increasing global spread has led to a considerable undersupply of talent in this sector. Both the Middle East and Southeast Asia, but also new regions currently adapting to the alternative finance system such as in Africa and Central Asia are effected.

Estimations are that there is a shortfall of between 8,000 and 10,000 in main Islamic finance fields in Gulf Cooperation Council countries alone, plus more in peripheral sectors such as law and regulatory affairs, financial technology, insurance and others. Altogether, as the industry continues to grow, at least 56,000 people will be needed to serve the Islamic financial sector in the coming years, according to the Finance Accreditation Agency of Malaysia.
“Islamic banking assets in six core markets – Qatar, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the UAE and Turkey – are estimated to reach a combined asset volume of $1.8tn by 2019,” says Dr. Amat Taap Manshor, the FAA’s CEO. “But the human capital meant to support the industry is still in its infancy, and shortages will be felt most acutely in the capital market sector,” he added.

Permodalan Nasional BHD is pushing for much bigger Islamic financial activities in order to turn Malaysia into a centre of global Islamic banking. In an interview to mark his one-year stint in the country’s largest unit trust fund, group chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar explains how PNB and its strategic companies will intensify efforts to boost syariah-based investment and financing products.
Regarding the Islamic finance agenda being so important to PNB it was asked, if it is tied to the government’s objective of making Malaysia the Islamic financial hub of the world.
Mr. Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar answered: „Indeed, if you look at the aspirations of our unitholders, they want syariah-compliant unit trust funds. I think this was why back in 2008, there was a fatwa that investments made in Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd were permissible. This fatwa was issued at the national level and 10 states adopted the fatwa, excluding Selangor and Penang. Over the past year, we had been engaging with the Selangor Mufti Department and based on those engagements, they revised their fatwa positively. So starting from April, investments in ASNB funds are “harus”.

The Participation banks achieved a profit of approx. $223.29 million in the first half of 2017 with an increase of 36 % compared to the same period the year before. According to information put together by the non-consolidated financial statements of Albaraka Türk, Kuveyt Türk, Türkiye Finans Participation Bank, Vak?f Participation and Ziraat Participation, the total assets of participation banks increased by 7.7 % compared to the end of last year, exceeding $41.52 billion. In the first half, the net profit of the sector increased by 36 %.
Among the participation banks, Kuveyt Türk achieved the highest net profit in the first half, followed by Türkiye Finans Participation Bank, Albaraka Türk, Ziraat Participation and Vak?f Participation. By the end of June, Kuveyt Türk was the leader of the sector, followed by Türkiye Finans Participation Bank and Albaraka Turk.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency regarding the first half results and expectations of the participation banks, Melik?ah Utku, chairman of the Participation Banks' Association of Turkey (PBAT), stressed that the participation banking sector is in a significant development process and has serious potential in Turkey.

The total Islamic finance industry was estimated at around $ 1.9 trillion in assets for the year end of 2016, and it pales into insignificance compared with traditional finance. However of special interest is the growing popularity of Islamic finance from both the Muslim and non-Muslim financial institutions and investors. Islamic assets are very much concentrated in the banking sector which holds $1.5 trillion in total, with the Islamic bonds or sukuks worth $320 billion, and investment funds and insurance or so called takaful worth $56 billion and $25 billion respectively.
The majority are purchase and sale or murabaha and leasing or ijara transactions. Some major Gulf companies are turning to the sukuk market to raise funds, with Saudi Aramco and the Government of Saudi Arabia both successfully launching sukuk tranches which were heavily oversubscribed.

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) in collaboration with IE Business School offers a training program for the development of executives across the Islamic finance industry. The Master in Islamic Finance program has a blended format, combining on-site periods in Spain and Saudi Arabia with dynamic, interactive online modules to minimize the time away from work. The length of the training is 13 months and intake starts in October 2017. Throughout the program, participants will obtain practical knowledge of high-level financial tools, develop practical Islamic Finance technical skills and acquire leadership skills. Upon program completion participants receive a University Private Degree from IE Business School and IE Universidad. IE Business School is a school within IE Universidad, which is a University officially accredited by the Spanish education authorities.

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) have signed an agreement to cooperate on Fintech innovation. The two public entities said the agreement will further strengthen the efforts of both authorities to develop an innovation-friendly ecosystem and regulatory environment. This continues a trend by both countries to ink bilateral relationships to boost emerging technology within the financial sector. The agreement was signed in Hong Kong by DFSA chief executive Ian Johnston and Ashley Alder, chief executive of the SFC. This step follows the introduction of regulations formalising a tailored regime for loan and investment crowdfunding platforms earlier this month. It also follows the launch of the FinTech Hive at DIFC and its Innovation Testing Licence (ITL).

The Nigerian central bank is setting up two new financial instruments to provide liquidity support for non-interest financial institutions. The new regulatory measures are designed for the proliferation of sukuk and takaful. Among the banks in Nigeria, only Sterling Bank, Stanbic IBTC and Jaiz Bank offer Islamic services. Jaiz, the only fully-fledged Islamic lender on the list, opened its doors in 2012. The Nigerian central bank stipulated several conditions for offering Islamic finance in October. Non-interest lenders must have a liquidity problem to be able to access a new discount window, which will offer it at zero interest, though lenders must post collateral.

Bank Negara #Malaysia is developing a scorecard with Islamic banking players that will measure the adoption of value-based intermediation (VBI) initiative. According to deputy governor Abdul Rasheed Abdul Ghaffour, the VBI marks the next step to realise the full potential of Islamic finance. The VBI Community of Practictioners (COP) includes nine Islamic banking institutions, Bank Islam, Bank Muamalat, CIMB Islamic, Agrobank, HSBC Amanah, Maybank Islamic, AmBank Islamic, Alliance Islamic and Standard Chartered Saadiq. While VBI shares similarities with ethical finance, ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) and SRI (sustainable, responsible, impact investing), the distinguishing factor is the Syariah aspect. Business propositions from new sectors such as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) would benefit from financial applications based on potential value creation and not just their credit scores.

Nigeria’s central bank is setting up two financial instruments to provide liquidity support to boost Islamic banking. The central bank has been working to set regulatory ground rules for sukuk and takaful to try to emulate the success of the industry in Malaysia. Islamic banking services are currently offered by the Islamic window of Sterling Bank, Stanbic IBTC and Jaiz Bank, but Nigeria wants to increase the sector. The country is gradually opening up to Islamic finance to bring non-interest banking to over 80 million Muslims. In October the regulator granted liquidity status at its discount window for banks' investment in Islamic bonds issued by national governments, and for banks’ liquidity ratios. Nigeria launched a 100 billion naira ($318 million) debut sovereign sukuk in the local market in June to help develop alternative funding sources.

In #Nigeria about $300 billion (N108.75 trillion) is required to close the country's infrastructure gap. To close the gap, the Federal Government has turned to the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). Some financial analysts are warning that this is capable of undermining the nation’s constitution and its secularity. While insisting on the need to defend Nigeria’s secularity, some of them pointed out that there are other viable options and numerous non-religious lending institutions Nigeria can turn to for help. For example, public affairs analyst, Barr Obiora Akabogu, said Nigeria could fall back on the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) to raise cash. Nigeria’s pension fund, which stood at N6.02 trillion as at last November, is another viable option to build infrastructure. Others have recommended the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model for designing, building, financing and operating new infrastructure.

Some countries have introduced laws to level the playing field between Islamic and conventional finance when it comes to the relationship between VAT and financial products. Whereas countries like Malaysia and Singapore have legislated to level the playing field between conventional and Islamic finance by recognising its religious underpinning, the United Kingdom have dealt with the issue in a not dissimilar manner but with a secular approach. Customers have enough difficulty understanding conventional finance. Investment in training to ensure product sales persons can comfortably communicate their Islamic finance offerings will be essential.

The #Indonesian National Alms Agency (BAZNAS) agreed to support the widening of electricity access to the poor in Jambi province in July. This marked the first official disbursement of the Islamic zakat fund to support the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Indonesia.

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has agreed a 1.6 billion Qatari riyal ($439.4 million) funding deal with Al Jaber Engineering (JEC) to finance a large food security facility at the new Hamad Port. The new food security facility is being built on a 530,000 square metre site and contains facilities that can be used for storing, processing and manufacturing of various foods. The complex will house rice silos, oil storage tanks and associated infrastructure. The funding deal was signed by QIB's CEO, Bassel Gamal, and JEC CEO Osama Hadid. Gamal said the bank was proud to finance JEC’s food security facilities project which is of strategic importance to the country. Hadid added that JEC would be responsible for both the design and construction of the new food security facility. Hamad Port is a $7.4 billion project which has been built to the south of the country's capital, Doha.

The shortage of high-quality sukuk in the Islamic finance market is a result of the deficit in virtuous talent, according to Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi, Former Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) president. He also said there was a lack of safe assets at present, leaving issuances by the government always oversubscribed. He added that the opportunity now existed for sukuk issuance from Indonesia, which has a lot of infrastructure plans such as to build more roads, have trains, ports, better airports and others. In a recent Bank Negara strategic paper, the central bank revealed that the annual growth rate of the Islamic finance industry had slowed from 24.2% in 2011 to 8.2% last year. Mohammad Faiz said MIA has launched the Mini Pupillage Programme to create a pool of knowledgeable and specialised talents in the area of Islamic finance.

The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX) and Ayedh Dejem Group have agreed to develop and launch the Middle East’s first Sharia compliant Spot Gold contract to be traded on an international exchange. This development is reflective of the growing potential of the Saudi Arabian and wider GCC regions Sharia compliant gold markets. Ayedh Bin Dejem, Chairman for the Group, said this cross-border collaboration offered access to the regional gold and commodities market. It provides customers with improved hedging and investment solutions in compliance with Sharia law. DGCX Chief Executive Gaurang Desai added that Amanie Advisors LLC, the leading global Islamic Finance advisory firm, have been selected to advise on the initiative. The launch of this product appealing to a wider range of investors in the region is an ideal way for the Exchange to extend its reach.

The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) released its IFSB Industry Stability 2017 Report. It states that global economic volatilities, consistently low oil prices and reduced demand for credit are among the factors that currently weigh on the Islamic financial service industry. The study says that 2016 marked another year of slower growth amid adverse macro-economic conditions. They include adjustments in the value of global Islamic banking assets in US dollar terms on the back of exchange rate depreciations in countries such as Malaysia, Turkey and Indonesia, as well as the persistent lack of global standardisation, and lower liquidity and profitability compared to the conventional banking sector. According to the IFSB, the global size of the Islamic financial service industry has not changed much, with total Islamic finance assets just slightly increasing to $1.89tn from $1.88tn. Another factor that affected asset growth was the currency depreciation in Iran, the world’s largest Islamic finance jurisdiction in terms of assets.

Socially responsible investment (SRI) and Islamic finance share significant common ground. Both spheres of investment demand the businesses chosen for investment are socially useful, not detrimental to humanity, and compliant with humanitarian ethics. SEDCO Capital has incorporated the Sharia-compliant investment approach with its responsible investment strategy and created the concept of prudent ethical investing (PEI). At the heart of PEI lie the environmental, social and governance criteria (ESG) that are integrated into financial analyses. SEDCO Capital is not only Sharia-compliant but also evaluates ESG aspects as part of its investment process. PEI is merging these two forces to embrace a more sustainable economic development model that is expected to attract non-Muslim SRI investors into the Islamic finance market.

The West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), in collaboration with the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG) started a five-day regional course on interest-free Islamic banking. Director General of WAIFEM, Professor Akpan H. Ekpo, stated that the objective of the course is to provide a broad understanding of the rudiments of Islamic banking. In particular, it will provide clarity on the Shariah requirements and the avoidance of Riba in modern-day banking business. 1st deputy Governor of the CBG, Dr Saikou Jabbie, said the Gambian Government entered into partnership with the Islamic Development Bank to develop the necessary infrastructure for Islamic banking in the country. He noted that the Central Bank even developed an investible Islamic instrument called the Sukuk AL Salam in 2007. On his part, Professor Ekpo thanked the Central Bank and its staff for their support to WAIFEM and its activities. WAIFEM is rated as a centre of excellence in capacity building and training, and it caters for the capacity needs of the private sector.