IslamicFinance.de

According to a report by Trade Arabia, Türkiye Petrol Rafinerileri has signed a 1-year facility worth USD 200 million with a group of nine banks from the Gulf region. The sole bookrunner and structuring advisor to Tüpra? was QInvest. Lead arrangers of the deal were Ahli United Bank, Al Hilal Bank, Doha Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank. The rest of the banks involved in the facility are Qatar Islamic Bank, Barwa Bank, The Commercial Bank of Qatar and First Gulf Bank.

An improved version of Attijari Al Islami's Ijarah Home products has been introduced to the public. Thus, UAE nationals and residents are enabled to afford their dream home compliant to the principles of Shariah. The improved version contains some new features and aims to address the growing demand for Shariah-compliant financial instruments in the UAE. Transparent and competitive rates are offered in order to be able to guarantee great value to the clients of the Commercial Bank of Dubai.

According to the chairman of Boubyan Bank, the growth rate of Islamic finance in Kuwait is the double of the one of conventional banking. In his opinion, strong demand throughout the Arab region can be expected. The country's Islamic banks reached credit volumes of 11.1 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($39.3 billion) during the first nine months of the year. This is 13.2% more than during the same period last year. Conventional banks on the other hand registered a 5.6% credit growth. Since the demand for sharia-complaint banking is so high in Kuwait, Boubyan has no intention to expand overseas yet. This contrasts with Kuwait Finance House (KFH).

The practitioners report “Believers in the Boardroom. Religious Organisations and their Shareholder Engagement Practices” by 3IG is online. Please access the practitioners report by clicking on the following link :

http://issuu.com/3ignet.org/docs/3ig_rse_practitioners_report_final_2012...

The report also remains available as hard copy: http://www.3ignet.org/documents/OrderRSEresearchnow.pdf

According to Bank of Khartoum's plans, the bank will increase its capital more than three times with the help of an expansion in the resource-rich country enabled by its Gulf investors. The investors are certain that peace with South Sudan will be maintained. Due to wars, poverty and a decade-long conflict with South Sudan, Sudan could not make use of the possible large-scale foreign investments so far. The U.S. sanctions against Sudan in place over its human rights record since 1997 have had an enormous effect. Since the agreement to end hostilities in September, Gulf Arab investors look more positively on Sudan.

The long awaited regulations on real estate financing, leasing and supervision of financial companies are now eventually being issued by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA). Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is getting ready to open up its mortgage market. The public now has to review the draft regulations. Comments and observations are to be submitted within 30 days of its publication. The regulations can be found on SAMA's website. The executive vice president of Capitas Group International - Nasser Nubani - explains that the draft mortgage regulations are a clear indication of SAMA's careful approach and striving to defend against problems due to lax regulation standards.

An Islamic financing facility worth $500m was signed between Qatar Telecom (Qtel) and Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB). The bank plays the role of Sole Mandated Lead Arranger and Investment Agent for the deal. The financing is structured as an 18 month Shariah-compliant "Revolving Murabaha". According to Chief Executive Officer of the Qtel Group - Dr Nasser Marafih - the deal will make the relationship between Qtel and QIB stronger. Ahmad Meshari, Acting Chief Executive Officer of QIB, added that the financing facility enables further avenues of collaboration between the two companies.

Al Ramz Securities' leading role in local industry has again been reaffirmed by the introduction of the Islamic Margin Trading service, which is first for the country. The pattern of the service is similar to that of the ‘Murabaha’ type of Shariah-compliant ‘cost-plus’ financing. Using its Islamic Margin Trading scheme, the company purchases Islamic-compliant shares specifically agreed upon with the client and, after that, resells them in accordance with the Murabaha sharing concept. The payment mode is to be chosen in advance.

For the third time, the Dubai Women Establishment (DWE) will be host of its flagship Arab Women Leadership Forum. The event will take place in Dubai from November 19th to 20th. The main focus of the forum will be issues and opportunities regarding the role of women in the boardroom. The forum is titled "Board Leadership '&' the Case for Diversity." National as well as internationally-recognized speakers, and accomplished women role models will participate. The forum, which is conducted on a yearly basis, plays a key role in DWE's agenda of activities and initiatives with the purpose of promoting the professional development and career advancement of women in the UAE.

Finance House PJSC (IFH) has made an announcement about the grand opening of its new main branch. It is located in the centre of Abu Dhabi. IFH is committed to growing across the UAE and to serving the customers who are seeking Shari'a compliant financial services. It offers a wide and diversified portfolio of Shari'a compliant products including personal and business finance alongside investments. Thus, it aims to enrich the financial experience of its customers using a customer-centric approach.

Last month, two UAE real estate developers - Al Futtaim Group and Emaar Properties - announced a big project in Egypt. Not only was this a boost to the country’s property market but it also acted as a sign of a revival of cross-border investment in the region. According to the two companies, they plan to invest about 5bn Egyptian pounds ($820m) in building the "Cairo Gate" which will be situated off the Cairo-Alexandria desert highway. The complex will be 65 hectare big and will be build around a shopping mall. An office park, a luxury hotel, schools, medical facilities and residential space are included in the plan.

After an investment, which turned out unsuccessful, at the beginning of the ongoing Arab turmoil, there is some positive perspective. A combination of excess liquidity and renewed business confidence has given motivation to new investment activities in the private equity sector. As Shailesh Dash, founder and CEO of Al Masah Capital, explained, the amount of money raised by private equity fund managers in the Gulf region has reached approximately 16.5 billion U.S. dollars in the last 10 years. He further cited two studies by consulting firms Preqin and Bain & Company which found out that private equity firms in the Gulf Arab region are in possession of between 3.8 billion to 5 billion U.S. dollars.

In time for the 41st UAE National Day celebrations, seventy Sharjah children will have the opportunity of a 10-day debut display of their artworks. The children are aged between 8 and 18 and attend 13 public and private schools. They are part of the 140 participants at the ongoing media arts seminar-workshops conducted by the FUNN-Sharjah Media Arts for Children and Youth. Since the establishment of FUNN under the patronage of Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, children from various school all over the emirate have been taking part in the seminars and workshops on photography, digital arts, filmmaking, animation, and graphic design.

The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Centre for Responsible Business together with the Pearl Initiative organized a seminar on integrated reporting. The seminar was held in the Dubai Chamber's head office in Dubai on Wednesday 14th. Professionals in the areas of CSR, sustainability, finance and strategy occupied in listed companies, public sector, private companies, state-owned enterprises and family firms took part in the event. The major topic of the seminar was integrated reporting - what it was and what ossibilities there are to help businesses take more sustainable decisions. Also, means to enable investors and other stakeholders to understand how an organisation is really performing were discussed.

Dear Reader,

The issue of debt vs. equity is now going to be increasingly recognised - in microfinance - as I found out today on the cfi blog:

"Debt to Equity. The demand for equity and subordinated debt is huge and continuing to grow, mainly coming from mature MFIs. More MIVs are moving away from debt toward equity, being driven in part by a desire to be more involved in governance, to play a larger role in risk management, and because the regulators are requiring more capital. Also, fund investors increasingly want to know how much of a fund’s return is coming from debt versus equity. Some of the larger DFIs need to disburse large amount of funds, so they have to make debt investments, leaving an unmet demand for equity."

http://cfi-blog.org/2012/11/19/microfinances-new-normal/

An important food for thought beyond microfinance itself in my opinion.

Best regards,

Michael Saleh Gassner

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) showed its support for the Diabetes Day by organizing activities through a small clinic at Baitok Tower. KFH employees and other visitors are permitted to conduct blood tests for diabetes. Also, awareness regarding the disease and means to prevent it is raised in this way. Thousands of patients and their families are targeted by the activities organized by KFH in support of the Diabetes Day. In addition, illuminating Baitok Tower in blue shows support to millions of patients worldwide.

Total assets under management reached USD 59.5 billion at the end of the third quarter of this year. A huge part of the assets - more than a half - are invested in money market and Saudi trade finance funds. Further 25% is invested in equities. The remaining assets are allocated among fixed income securities, IPOs, protected or guaranteed funds, and many other types. The distribution of the assets in terms of number of funds however shows different figures. 40% in equities, 19% in fixed income and sukuk, and 14% in money market and Saudi trade finance are the percentages according to this aspect of distribution.

Last month, the dominant tone in Rasmala was one of "risk on" due to fluctuations in $ interest rates which had little bearing on Sukuk pricing in the region. The nervousness in the international market only led to a brief halt in the local market followed by soldiering on as soon as positive sentiment returned. The striving for yield continued at a quick pace. This is evident by the strong performance of some yielding names in the conventional space which were previously unloved but higher. An example of such yielding names is Dubai Holdings 14s and 17s which reached an increase of more than 2% and 3% respectively on the month.

Investcorp together with GCC Board Directors Institute (BDI) will be the hosts of a two and a half day workshop on Corporate Governance. The workshop will be held at the Kempinski Grand & Ixir Hotel Bahrain City starting on December 10 and continuing until December 12, 2012. At the workshop, faculty members of leading advisory institutions will acquaint participants with building board members' capabilities. An extensive peer discussion is included in the programme. Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, Minister Of Culture of the Kingdom Of Bahrain, will discuss the topics of Culture and Bahrain at the BDI alumni dinner on the second night of the workshop. A keynote speech at the welcome dinner will be held by CEO of Gulf Air Samer Majali. Its topic will be "Establishing a Strong Corporate Governance Framework at Gulf Air".

After the request of Dubai World of six-month delay on payments on US$26 billion in debt in 2009, default became an extremely dirty word. Consequently, when this year Dana Gas failed to repay US$920 million on its sukuk, the local press was hesitant whether or not to call this a default. During the global economic and financial crisis, the UAE and Dubai in particular were shook by the credit rating agencies, investors and the international press. Fortunately, multibillion-dollar bailout from Abu Dhabi averted the worst. Until recently, companies, which faced inability to repay their debt, looked for restructuring before deadline. Dana Gas made an exception, however, they managed to come up with a restructuring deal very quickly, thus demonstrating development in terms of maturity of the Islamic finance market.