IslamicFinance.de

Without any doubt the introduction of Islamic Banking will be a challenge to Malta. There can be no doubt that the Government looked at the matter from a purely commercial point of view without paying any attention to certain core values. But the attacks by ISIS are bringing the issue of core values to the fore again. Currently Malta is seen as one of the top countries in the fight against money laundering and terrorism funding. With the introduction of Islamic Banking, the biggest preoccupation would be whether such a position would be negatively affected. Another concern is on the role of the Regulator. Despite a long Budget Speech, such an essential issue was not tackled by the Minister of Finance and MFSA is far from being prepared for such a proposal.

Publicly traded Islamic bank Bank Asya’s owners have launched 100 cases against the seizure by regulators, with lawyer Süleyman Ta?ba? emphasizing that lawsuits can also be filed on behalf of the 18,000 shareholders corresponding to the B Group shares. Ta?ba? said that the number of cases may reach 110 with the main case file reaching 500 pages, pointing out that the B Group shareholders will also have the opportunity to file cases until the legal deadline expires in the next 35 days. The lawyer also said that a criminal complaint will be filed with the prosecutors against the bureaucrats working at the regulatory agencies who took part in the seizure of the bank and its management.

The Republic of Turkey is seeking to raise US$1.5bn from the issuance of sukuk and yen-denominated bonds this year, according to a treasury official. The sovereign, rated Baa3 by Moody's and BBB- by Fitch, is to raise around USD400m-equivalent from the yen-denominated transaction and the rest from the sukuk. The sovereign is aiming to price the sukuk in the fourth quarter of the year, and the yen-denominated deal at some point in the second half of the year, according to the official.

Kuveyt Türk will sell sukuk to qualified investors as well as to people through public offerings as part of the TL 1 billion ($373.65 million) issuance ceiling program taken from the Capital Markets Board in 2015. Therefore, the bank plans to issue TL 200 million of sukuk, which is due for 189 days after collecting demands on June 24, June 25 and June 26. Additionally, it aims to issue TL 800 million of sukuk in total by the end of 2015 to increase its resource diversity. Investors' interest in the bank's issuances valued at TL 1 billion from 2014 to 2015 and public offerings valued at TL 150 million in 2013 showed possible growth in the upcoming issuances, and this is why the bank has increased its aims.

Bitcoin (https://bitcoin.org) started to make the idea of a cryptocurrency popular. What is missing so far is an intense discussion among Sharia scholars.

What makes Bitcoin unique is, that it is a) created by a computer program b) that it is created and verified by a decentralised process, the so-called 'Blockchain' technology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_chain_(database)), which is solving a practical problem for the first time: To enable trust and accounting without a central ledger, such as a central bank. c) that it faciliates payments quick, efficient and discreet - while the latter leads to accusation of misuse, e.g. for gaming, drugs, terror finance etc.

How it can be seen from an Islamic perspective is not widely discussed, despite it deserves the attention. What we find in search engines are some discussions and also an initiative, which calls itself a bank (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=21732.0).

London-based investment bank Gatehouse Bank Plc said on Monday it promoted Will Innes as vice president within its real estate investment team. He will work with Will Lowndes, vice president of real estate investment, and will be responsible for sourcing and originating real estate transactions across UK and continental Europe, Gatehouse said. Innes, who joined Gatehouse in January 2014, previously worked at Waypoint Capital where he was responsible for developing international private equity real estate platform.

Turkiye Finans, the largest Islamic bank in Turkey, told regulators that its chief executive Derya Gurerk had resigned from his position on Friday, an unexpected move at a time of growing competition in the sector. Executive vice president Osman Celik would take over the role temporarily, the bank said in a regulatory filing without elaborating on the departure of Gurerk, who had served on the role since 2011. Turkiye Finans, in which Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank is the largest shareholder, has a predominant focus on corporate banking and is one of four incumbent Islamic banks in the country.

Islamic financial services are one of the top priorities for Turkey’s presidency of the G20, a senior Turkish finance official said on Wednesday. Speaking at a meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Mozambique’s capital Maputo, Deputy Undersecretary of the Turkish Treasury Burhanettin Aktas said Turkey believed strongly in the vital role the Islamic finance industry had to play in infrastructure and small-medium-enterprise (SME) financing. According to Aktas, Turkey has one of the highest growth potentials for Islamic financial services among the Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries, Turkey has developed new products, established a state-owned Islamic bank and plans to open two more state-owned Islamic banks.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to grow Islamic banking in Turkey may be facing an uncertain future. The ruling AK Party - formerly led by Erdogan - failed to win enough seats at the general election to form a single-party government. The result was a blow to the power of the man who has driven the industry in Turkey. The vote raises the possibility of a minority administration, a coalition government or another election in the $800 billion economy. Stocks, bonds and the lira plunged the day after the vote. Turkey’s cabinet appointed Mehmet Ali Akben to head the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency in May. Akben is known to be strongly supportive of the government’s participation banking agenda. Still, political uncertainty could drag on.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said on Tuesday that Bank Asya is in the hands of the Turkish banking watchdog and its insurance fund. On May 29, Turkey's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), the country’s banking watchdog, ruled for the complete takeover of all shares of Bank Asya by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). The deputy minister stressed that the BDDK and TMSF are independent organizations. Separately, Turkish stock exchange regulators on Tuesday lifted the ban on the trading of Bank Asya’s shares one day after it was halted. The bank’s shares opened at Friday’s closing prices 0.76 Turkish lira. The shares dropped to 0.69 lira, a loss of 9.21 percent.

Regulators announced on Friday they would take over the lender, saying its financial structure and management presented a threat to the financial system. Shareholders of the bank will bring charges against both the banking watchdog and Turkey's insurance deposit fund, lawyer Suleyman Ta?ba? said. The lawyer disputed that the latest regulatory action had been done to protect depositors, noting that Asya was profitable again. The editor of the Gülen-affiliated Zaman newspaper said he was concerned about further arrests and seizures of businesses with links to the cleric. Shares of Bank Asya were suspended temporarily on the Istanbul watchlist market on Monday after Friday's seizure of the bank, the Istanbul bourse said.

Turkey’s government said it plans to find a buyer for Bank Asya after completing the nationalization of the Islamic lender with the seizure of its shares on Friday. The bank may now be sold whole or in parts, according to an announcement in the Official Gazette on Saturday, which didn’t give more detail on the potential sale. Twelve months ago Goldman Sachs Inc. was hired to manage a sale. The New York bank set up exclusive talks with Qatar Islamic Bank SAQ., only for these to fall apart after Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said that the government preferred that the Istanbul-based lender be acquired by a Turkish state bank. The regulator has wide discretionary powers after a takeover, including to partially or completely transfer the bank’s assets to another bank, or sell to a third person.

Speaking in the aftermath of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency’s seizure of publicly traded Islamic lender Bank Asya, Lawyer Süleyman Ta?ba? vows that the continued illegal measures were political and illegal. He states that the unjust seizure will inevitably come to an end, even if it means going to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Ta?ba? also expressed that the takeover was an attempt to incite panic and cause a run to the bank, calling for the customers to display the same solidarity as in the aftermath of February 3 measure. Banking sector experts warn that illegal bank takeovers have cost Turkey dearly in international courts.

Information technology specialists from Turkey's banking watchdog, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), discovered that 800,000 transaction records were deleted at Bank Asya, which was seized by the Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) in February. According to an investigation, the mentioned transactions were deleted just after the Dec. 17, 2013 operation. After the Gülen Movement was included in the Red Book as a national security threat and deemed a terrorist organization, the accounts of some of the people that are included in the movement will be investigated. In case any relations to the movement's members are revealed, the bank may be forcibly terminated for national security reasons.

Turkish authorities said on Friday they had decided to take over Bank Asya. The move was announced by the banking watchdog BDDK just over a week ahead of a parliamentary election and on the same day that Erdogan launched the Islamic business of the state-owned Ziraat Bank. The BDDK statement said it acted as "problems experienced in the bank's activities with its financial structure, its partnership and management make-up presented a danger ... in terms of confidence and stability in the financial system." It handed over control of the bank to Turkey's Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) which said that the bank's operating licence had not been cancelled at this stage.

Turkish regulators seized the remaining shares in Bank Asya, the Islamic lender taken over by authorities this year amid a political dispute. The move against the bank was announced late Friday on the website of the bank watchdog. The aim was to protect savers and ensure “stability and confidence in the financial system,” it said. Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan denied that the seizure was politically motivated in an interview late Friday. The seizure comes before parliamentary elections on June 7 and about two weeks after the cabinet appointed Mehmet Ali Akben, a career Islamic banker and board member of the state Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, to head the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency.

Denying any political motives, Turkey Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says regulators’ action purely based on “technical, fiscal and financial” evaluation. Turkish regulators on Friday seized remaining shares in Bank Asya. Appeals process is open on Bank Asya seizure: Bank Asya went beyond “normal banking” due to ties with "parallel state,” Davutoglu says in reference to supporters of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he expected other state banks to establish Islamic banking units soon after state-run Ziraat launched an Islamic unit on Friday. Erdogan, speaking at the launch ceremony of Ziraat's new business, said he also expected Ziraat to set up an Islamic insurance unit.

Comprehensive reforms in Turkey’s capital markets over recent years have exceeded EU standards and bred confidence among investors, says the Chairman of the Capital Markets Board Vahdettin Erta?. The Turkish government has a plan to develop the participation banking sector and also the instruments we provide under Islamic principles. The sukuk regulation was renewed in 2013 and also a new regulation was made after the reform on the private pension system which allows for the establishment of Sharia-compliant pension funds. The government also has a plan to develop the Islamic insurance (takaful) industry.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the launch of Ziraat Bank's Islamic business should help to attract new funds to Turkey and urged other state lenders to help to triple Islamic banking's share of the market by 2023. Speaking at Friday's launch ceremony for Ziraat's new business, Erdogan said he also expects Ziraat to set up an Islamic insurance operation and called on other state lenders to introduce Islamic banking divisions soon. Turkey's other two state lenders, Vakifbank and Halkbank, have also been looking to set up Islamic banks as part of the government's efforts to develop the sector and tap a pool of cash-rich investors in the Gulf and southeast Asia.