IslamicFinance.de

Halalbooking.com, an online booking platform in the halal tourism sector, said it was targeting growth, with plans to launch a $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) initial public offering (IPO) in three years, according to Elnur Seyidli, chairman of the company’s board. The UK-based company is still looking at global stock markets for the IPO but said it will either be in the UK or the US. Halalbooking has been growing to three times its initial size per year (300 per cent). The chairman said that the company was looking to grow its consumer base to half a million to a million per year. This will be achieved through adding more hotels to the website. He added that he expected growth in the next few years to come from Muslim countries. Halalbooking is also looking to capitalise on the GCC as a source market.

UAE's Mashreq Al Islami has successfully closed a 5 year USD 500 million senior secured syndicated facility for Ezdan Holding Group Company Q.S.C., the largest private sector real estate developer in Qatar. Mashreq Al Islami UAE acted as Mandated Lead Arranger, Sole Book Runner and Facility Agent for the facility. Other banks that participated in the financing included Abu Dhabi Islamic bank, Ahli United Bank, Emirates NBD, Gulf International Bank, HSBC Bank Middle East as Mandated Lead Arrangers, Sharjah Islamic bank, Warba Bank as Lead Arrangers and QIIB as asset custodian. The Facility proceeds will be utilized to support the Company's expansion and developmental plans in its core market.

Despite a growing Muslim population across the world, the Halal tourism sector is still “completely under-serviced” with growing urgency for quicker investments. According to Andy Buchanan, event manager of the World Halal Travel Summit, there are many untapped markets where supply is low including India, China, and Europe. Halal tourism packages must adhere to Islamic beliefs and practices, which include offering Halal food and non-alcoholic drinks, and having separate swimming pools and spa facilities for men and women. Today, the sector is worth $140 billion a year, with the figure expected to reach $250 billion by 2020, marking a 6.5 per cent annual growth rate.

International Investment Bank (IIB) announced the disposal of a Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, resulting in over 30% IRR for the Bank. The aircraft, which was purchased by IIB in a sale and leaseback transaction earlier this year, is on lease to a leading regional airline on a non-cancellable basis for a period of nine years, and has recently been sold to an international buyer. IIB is currently exploring other attractive deals in the aviation market, IIB Chief Executive Officer, Subhi Benkhadra said.

Aiad Al Khatib, head of corporate regulatory and scientific affairs at Nestle, said that standards for what is halal, or permissible under sharia law, need to be aligned, clarified and simplified to allow manufacturers and exporters greater access to markets. Halal standards are being produced by several bodies including government-linked organizations, private organizations, independent halal certification bodies as well as national, regional and international bodies. Global Muslim spending on food and beverages rose 4.3% to around USD 1.128 trillion in 2014 from a year earlier, accounting for 16.7% of the total global food and beverage expenditure. The halal food and drinks market is expected to grow to USD 1.585 trillion by 2020.

The Board of Directors of Alkhabeer Capital has accepted the resignation of Mr. Saleh Mohammed Binladen from his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors, for personal reasons. The board also announced the appointment of Mr. Musaad Mohammad Aldrees in his place as Chairman, effective October 7, 2015. Mr. Binladen said he was stepping down to reduce his broad responsibilities. Mr. Aldrees , a member of the board of Alkhabeer Capital since 2008, will serve as Chairman until the appointment of a new Board and Chairman in January 2016.

Islamic lenders will find it difficult to compete in Lebanon's banking sector without regulatory amendments to support growth of the Islamic banking industry, Mutasim Mahmassani , the general manager of Al Baraka Bank Lebanon said. He said that the market share of Islamic banking assets in the overall banking industry in Lebanon remains below 1%. Al Baraka Bank Lebanon , a subsidiary of Al Baraka Banking Group, expects its profits to grow by 7-8% this year to nearly USD 1 million, he added. The official said that lack of awareness of Islamic banking options in Lebanon was also a major obstacle to growth, adding that murabaha is the most popular tool of Islamic finance in Lebanon.

Noor Bank is set to support an art and design exhibition at the Global Islamic Economy Summit 2015 (GIES) that will run on October 5th and 6th in Dubai. In partnership with Thomson Reuters, Noor Bank will spotlight new Islamic artwork at the event in its role as the official Arts and Design Sponsor of GIES 2015. Additionally, as part of Noor Bank's participation at the landmark summit, Hussain Al Qemzi, CEO of Noor Bank and Chairman of Awqaf & Minors Affairs Foundation will headline a session on Awqaf as a keynote speaker. GIES 2015 is scheduled to take place at the Madinat Jumeirah.

Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt is offering the country's central bank three proposals to activate the mortgage finance initiative for the low and medium-class incomes. Mahmoud Idris - Faisal Bank's Product Manager for Mortgage Unit - said that one of the three proposals offered by the bank to the CBE is to raise premiums of the housing unit gradually every year. The second suggestion is to elongate the funding period from 20 to 25 years. Idris stated that the third proposal is to launch a national campaign by the CBE in coordination with banks to raise citizens' awareness about the importance of the initiative and the necessary steps to participate in it.

The Board of Directors of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit ( ICIEC ), a Member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has appointed Mr. Oussama Abdel Rahman Kaissi as Chief Executive Officer of ICIEC. Mr. Oussama Kaissi has over twenty eight years of experience in the insurance and Takaful industry. He is the founding CEO of the National Takaful Company, Watania, had also established and led Abu Dhabi National Takaful from inception till 2010. Graduated in 1987 from Indiana University, USA and having worked in USA, UAE, Bahrain and Lebanon both in conventional and Takaful companies, Mr. Kaissi has got diversified exposure to different markets, cultures and business models.

GFH Financial Group (GFH), the Bahrain based financial group, has repaid US$37.5 million to its debt syndicates. These repayments are in addition to US$33 million paid by GFH to its debt holders in 2014, and represents more than 30% of the Group's outstanding facilities. Today, the Group has outstanding debt of US$ 137 million under three facilities to be repaid on an amortized basis through 2018/2019. As of 30 June 2015, the Group's debt to equity ratio stood at only 0.24 underscoring the strength of GFH's balance sheet.

The Islamic Finance Council UK (IFC) and crowdfunding platform Narwi were recognised at this year's Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB)- Thomson Reuters Ethical Finance Innovation Challenge Awards (EFICA), while former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was presented with a lifetime achievement award. Founded in 2005, the IFC is a UK based not-for-profit specialist advisory and development body established to promote and enhance the global Islamic and ethical finance industry. Within the UK, the Council pioneered the Ethical Finance Roundtable (EFRT) series. Narwi is a non-profit Islamic crowdfunding platform which allows donors to support micro-entrepreneurs of their choice.

Across the GCC, public pension funds amount to US$397 billion, representing nearly a quarter of GDP and US$15,000 per national. This is according to EY's GCC Wealth and Asset Management 2015 report - "Fast growth, divergent paths". GCC Governments are relooking at existing models of both public and international pension funds to ensure they are sustainable. The size of GCC pension funds is relatively low, compared with employer-provided pension funds in the UK, for example, where these assets are larger than GDP and funds per individual are nearly four times the GCC average. There will be significant changes in the way GCC pension provision is looked at in the coming years because the current system may find it difficult to cope with the needs of GCC residents.

QInvest has launched the QInvest Pramerica Liquid Real Estate Fund in partnership with Pramerica Real Estate Investors, the real estate investment management business of U.S.-headquartered Prudential Financial, Inc. Pramerica will serve as the subadvisor of the Fund. The new Fund will invest exclusively in high yielding sharia'a-compliant real estate investment trusts and other real estate-related securities, sourced globally by the fully dedicated real estate securities team at Pramerica. The new Fund will be hosted on QMAP, QInvest's managed account platform.

At the 5th Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA) 2015 held at the Gulf Convention Center, the CEO of Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), Mr Khaled Al-Aboodi, was awarded the "Islamic Finance Personality of the Year" for his contribution to the development of the Global Islamic finance industry. The Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA) aims to highlight the best practices in Islamic banking and finance, and honor the efforts and contributions of individuals and institutions in the Islamic finance industry. Previous award recipients of GIFA include leaders such as Tun Abdullah Badawi, former Prime Minister of Malaysia and HE Shaukat Aziz, former Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Egypt's Wethaq Takaful Insurance is to launch its first real estate fund during upcoming general assembly scheduled for next November, head of financial and administration affairs Abdel El Aziz Labib said. Wethaq will present 50 million Egyptian pounds (US$6.4 million) as an initial capital for the new fund. The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) has granted initial approval for the fund. Wethaq intends to raise the capital of its fund to 250 million pounds within few years after inception, a step toward a plan to launch another fund. Furthermore, Labib said Wethaq's talks with the Egyptian regulator had also included a proposal to establish a new subsidiary to manage the new fund. The new subsidiary shall be 20% owned by Wethaq Egypt, he added.

World Islamic finance market is set to almost double by 2020 from the current $1.81 trillion to $3.25 trillion, led by banking and Takaful assets, a study has revealed. Commercial banking contributes to about $1.34 trillion, while $33.4 billion is contributed by takaful insurance, while sukuks contribute to about $295 billion of the world Islamic Finance market. The growth has been fuelled by banking and Takaful assets, which have grown 12 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, while sukuk and funds witnessed modest growth of 6 per cent and 7 per cent respectively. However, the continued presence of significant macroeconomic and geopolitical hazards do not augur well for Islamic Finance sector.

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) and the Regional Council for Public Savings and Financial Markets (CREPMF), Regional Financial Market Regulatory Body of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) zone sign a partnership and cooperation agreement to promote Islamic finance in the WAEMU sub-region. The goal is to help mobilize long-term resources of the Union Member states and private sector companies, especially SMEs. The agreement covers the cooperation, the exchange of information, the development of the regulatory framework in order to create an enabling environment for Islamic finance, and the sharing of experiences and expertise of both institutions in the agreed areas.

Kuwait Finance House will decide the fate of its Malaysian business by the end of this month, a spokesman said on Tuesday, after it had been reported that Qatar National Bank had bid to buy the unit. The sale ist part of of a broader restructuring of its operations. A spokesman for KFH said it was looking at several options whether to restructure, sell or merge its Malaysian business and that the decision will be concluded by the end of this month. A source familiar with the matter had said earlier that QNB had submitted a bid to purchase the Malaysian unit. The source declined to provide further details, and whether there were other bidders involved.

Companies in the GCC region will have to formulate effective retirement plans if they are to remain competitive in the market place, so says Mercer. The International human resources consultancy has highlighted the trend for expatriates to extend their stay in GCC countries to call for a greater emphasis to be given to planning for life after work for employees. Mercer says that there are several benefits for employers in the formulation of retirement plans for their workforce, including the positioning of a company as an employer of choice amongst competitors, the attraction of international expertise and the retention of key talent. Mercer also draws attention to enhanced employee engagement as being another key benefit.