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Noor Bank has successfully priced its debut perpetual $500 million Tier 1 capital issuance, the first issuance from UAE in 2016. The final pricing came on the back of global roadshows across Middle East, Asia and Europe with an order book crossing over $1 billion. Citi and Standard Chartered were the joint global coordinators for the issuance, whilst Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Gulf Bank, Noor Bank and Sharjah Islamic Bank acted as the joint lead managers for the issuance.

The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) announced the sale of Bank Asya shares for June 24. The TMSF will sell 183.6 million of the total 360 million preference shares, pricing each share for TL 0.70 ($0.23). This represents 51% of the total preference shares, that is the controlling power of the bank. According to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) the troubles in Bank Asya's financial structure, administration and operations pose risks to depositors as well as the security and stability of the financial system.

Malaysia's Bank Muamalat will set up a 1 bn ringgit ($243.4 mn) sukuk programme after redeeming 400 mn ringgit worth of subordinated sukuk on June 15. Bank Muamalat's new sukuk programme has loss-absorption features to meet Basel III criteria, qualifying as Tier 2 capital. In February, Bank Muamalat and Malaysia Building Society called off merger talks that would have created one of the country's largest standalone Islamic banks.

Bank Islam #Malaysia has denied rumours that its managing director Zukri Samat would be replaced. Chairperson Zamani Abdul Ghani said the board had decided to renew Zukri’s service contract. His re-appointment has also been approved by Bank Negara Malaysia. Zamani expressed hope that Bank Islam’s staff would continue to give their full support to Zukri.

Saudi Arabia may need to change its currency's peg to the U.S. dollar if economic conditions shift. The riyal's peg at 3.75 to the dollar has been a cornerstone of Saudi policy since 1986. But the collapse of oil prices since 2014, which created a $100 billion state budget deficit, has fuelled speculation in financial markets. Foreign bankers said Saudi authorities had explored the idea of changing the peg in a broad review of economic policy. They concluded that a change would be counter-productive now but conceivable in the far future.

The Indonesian government is considering cutting the levy to zero for all local-currency sovereign bonds from 15% for domestic investors and 20% for international ones. According to Abas A. Jalil, CEO of Amanah Capital Group, the zero tax will definitely encourage more participation by government funds in the Indonesian sukuk market. The proposal aims to revive Islamic banking after the industry shrank to 3.5% of total financial assets in March, from 5% a year earlier. Only one Indonesian company has issued rupiah sukuk in 2016 for the equivalent of $7.3 mn compared with $5.9 bn worth of ringgit sales in Malaysia, the biggest Shariah-compliant debt market.

The Swiss start-up Monetas claims a new mobile phone payment technology will transform people’s lives in Africa. The Tunisian National Post invited the Swiss firm to pilot its technology in October in conjunction with local firm DigitUs. Once all integrations with the existing e-dinar system are finalised, the Monetas system will first target retailers before reaching out to the general population. Monetas has big plans for expansion, having started exploratory talks with 12 other African nations with a combined population of 300 million. It is also developing savings accounts and is looking into other financial services, such as micro credits.

Malaysia’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), announced it has closed its investigations into 1MDB after the investment firm paid a fine for non-compliance with local financial regulations. The Finance Ministry insisted that there was no misappropriation but only administrative weakness in the firm. However, 1MDB will be barred from borrowing public funds. Malaysia’s Deputy Finance Minister, Johari Abdul Ghani, said 1MDB will be dissolved once it pays off its debts. The firm currently has debts totalling RM50 billion ($16 billion) as of January, as opposed to assets of RM53 billion.

Bangladesh Bank did not allow Al-Arafah Islami Bank to sell 10% of its shares to the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The deal was originally signed in March to invest about Tk 155 crore to acquire a 10% stake in Al-Arafah. Al-Arafah was supposed to issue around 11 crore fresh shares worth Tk 10 each with a premium of Tk 4, in a bid to raise its capital. The board of Al-Arafah is divided over the issue of selling a 10% stake, particularly on the issue of giving veto power to IDB. The aggrieved group had also taken the issue to court opposing the veto power.

Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) has successfully repaid a $400 million sukuk. The sukuk had been raised in May 2011 under challenging market circumstances. The funds raised under the sukuk were used for general corporate purposes and business expansion of SIB. The bank currently has two sukuks of $500 million outstanding which are set to mature in 2018 and 2020 respectively.

Ibdar Bank recently concluded its Annual General Meeting for the fiscal year 2015 and appointed a new Board of Directors. For fiscal year 2015, the Bank reported $14.5 million loss attributable to shareholders. Total revenue for 2015 was $25.6 million compared to $13.6 million for 2014 an increase of 88% over the last year. The improved operating performance in 2015 was overshadowed by impairment and negative fair value changes of $23.8 million. In addition, shareholders elected a new Board of Directors for a three year period. Mr. Tareq Sadeq was appointed as the Bank’s Chairman and Mr. Abdulkarim Ahmed Bucheery as Vice Chairman.

Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies (EIBFS) hosted a workshop on the current and future landscape of the Shari’ah-compliant asset management sector for the UAE’s senior-level bankers and financial experts. The workshop invited Islamic finance specialists from EIBFS, Dubai Islamic Bank, Noor Bank and Mashreq Capital. Asset management has evolved significantly over the last few years. In 2015, Assets under Management (AUM) of total global Islamic funds grew 5.3% from the previous year while the number of funds increased by 11%.

India will get its first taste of sharia-compliant banking when the Islamic Development Bank launches operations in the state of Gujarat. No date has yet been announced, but already complaints have emerged within the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Prominent BJP politician Subramanian Swamy says Islamic banking goes against India’s principles of secularism. India's prime minister Narendra Modi visited Saudi Arabia in April and signed an extensive agreement with the bank. Under the agreement, the IDB will establish its first Indian branch in the Gujarat city of Ahmedabad and go on to open more branches in India in the future.

DP World has raised $1.2 billion in a new seven-year sukuk which is set to be listed on Nasdaq Dubai. The issue received strong investor interest and was 2x oversubscribed receiving more than $2bn in bids. The new sukuk is priced at a fixed coupon rate of 3.91% maturing in 2023, replacing over $1.1bn of the 2017 6.25% coupon sukuk. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World said Nasdaq Dubai gives this new listing global visibility to position Dubai as the capital of the Islamic economy globally.

Turkish participation bank Kuveyt Turk has raised 300 million lira ($101.5 million) of Islamic bonds, and plans to regularly use public sales in the future. The 6-month deal is the largest local currency sukuk issued by Kuveyt Turk. The bank opted for a public sale to further widen its funding sources, in contrast to most other sukuk deals which are sold via private placements. Last week, the Turkish treasury mandated banks for a sovereign sukuk deal in the international markets. First, Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi applied to raise as much as 17 million euros via sukuk, followed by Aktif Bank who has also applied to raise up to 100 million lira via sukuk.

Kuwait Finance House Turkey has realized a sukuk issuance of 300 million TL with tenure of 179 days, exceeding its own previous record breaking sukuk issuance of TL 200 million on Nov 13, 2015. According to CEO Ufuk Uyan the bank will continue similar public offerings in the future. The first lease yield shall be made on Aug 11, 2016, while the second on Nov 8, 2016 at the end of the maturity, together with principal sums. So far, KFH-Turkey has issued lease certificates of a total of TL 7,2 billion in domestic and overseas markets.

The Financial Services Authority (OJK) is considering providing a legal basis for Islamic real estate investment trustees (REITs), hoping that it will attract more property investors, especially from the Middle East. OJK deputy director of sharia market Muhammad Touriq said Takaful companies are interested in investing in the REITs, but have failed to do so as the existing REITs are not sharia-compliant. The Indonesian government is working on an incentive for the Islamic REITs that allows investors to pay only 0.5% income tax. So far 11 developers have expressed their interest including Ciputra, Summarecon and Ciptadana Asset Management.

Azerbaijan and Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) will discuss the opportunities of financing the country's agriculture. The topic will be discussed by ICD's general driector Khaled Al-Aboodiin during his visit in Baku on May 31. The agricultural projects will be financed through the new Food and Agribusiness Fund with an authorized capital of $600 million. The fund will mainly focus on the production optimization of the companies working in agriculture and a decrease in their logistics inefficiency.

Home financing resembling Islamic finance structures is becoming popular to solve the housing affordability crisis in Western countries. Housing cooperatives began using profit-and-risk-sharing schemes modelled after ijara or musharaka to help home buyers purchase properties. In the UK the idea based on the Islamic contract of ijara came up in 2015. The rent-to-own scheme was proposed by the Liberal Democrats party and involves an Islamic bank or another intermediary, who purchases the property for a customer. In Canada various cooperative frameworks are providing home financing loans to members of their cooperatives in a Shariah-compliant manner. In the US the Ijara Community Development provides Shariah-compliant home financing for both US clients and customers in Canada.

Authorities in #Switzerland and #Singapore took action against Swiss private bank BSI for failing to prevent money laundering and bribery related to its dealings with Malaysian development fund 1MDB. Switzerland's Attorney General opened criminal proceedings against the bank. The country's Financial Market Supervisory Authority ordered BSI to pay back 95 mn Swiss franks Swiss Bank Is Charged Over ($96 mn). Singapore’s central bank revoked BSI’s banking license there and fined it 13.3 mn Singapore dollars ($9.7 mn). The cross-border investigation related to 1MDB involves at least seven countries.