IslamicFinance.de

Meezan Bank had a huge influx of funds this year and Muhammad Asad, executive vice president and chief investment officer of Al Meezan Investment Management, stated that it is because of the Government of Pakistan's Sukuk program, which has enjoyed enormous local demand. He added that the sukuk enjoyed high levels of demand because it is tradable and offers competitive returns to the investors.
At this point Al Meezan is Pakistan's largest private sector asset management company.

Meezan Bank is the first Advisor and Lead Arranger for the first ever short-term Sukuk for Kot Addu Power Company Limited (KAPCO), bringing another "first" to Pakistan’s Islamic Banking Industry.
The introduction of short-term Sukuk by Meezan Bank imprints the opening of another much needed avenue for Islamic Mutual Funds which faces a scarcity of short-term tradable instruments. The Sukuk collected an overwhelming response from investors, mainly consisting of Islamic mutual funds.

Capital Management House stated that it has performed the second distribution of dividends to GCC investors of its aircraft leasing investment fund for the period ending 30 June 2011.
The dividends are paid on a quarterly basis and have been calculated at 10% per annum. They a number of high net worth individuals, family offices and institutions from across the region.
The fund has been coordinated around a transaction concluded with Emirates Airlines, one of the world's leading carriers, which was announced in January 2011 and consists of the acquisition of a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft from the airline and an agreement whereby it has been rented back to Emirates.

At the 36th annual board of governors meeting held in Jeddah last month, there was one positive result that stood out: the approval by the Board of Directors of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Export Credit and Investment (ICIEC), the standalone export credit and political risk insurance agency of the IDB Group, of the corporation's capital from the current $240 million to $640 million.
ICIEC had an obvious gain: the capital increase would substantially increase its underwriting and reinsurance capacity.
It was confirmed by Abdel Rahman Taha, CEO, that ICIEC is still reviewing the feasibility of launching the LC Guarantee Fund, and are in discussions with some partner institutions on the structure and objectives of the fund.

Public Mutual wil launch two new Islamic funds, Public Islamic Treasures Growth Fund (PITGF) and Public Sukuk Fund (PSKF) on 19 July 2011.
The first one is an Islamic equity fund that wants to achieve capital growth over the medium- to long-term period by investing primarily in small and medium sized companies, which comply with Shariah principles.
PSKF on the other hand is an Islamic bond fund that has as purpose to provide annual income through investments in sukuk and Islamic money market instruments.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) , the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commissiosn (ICRC) and the Debt Mangement Office (DMO) have begun the discussions on finding the best ways to explore an option of sukuk (Islamic) bonds for financing the infrastructure requirement in the country.
The DMO had shown some interest in partnership with the CBN to develop and issue Islamic bonds for the Nigerian financial system.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) stated that it will launch a new Sharia opportunity fund in the region with exposure to equity markets across the Asia-Pacific region.
Prudential Asset Management Limited is the one offering the fund. It will search to invest in Sharia-compliant companies in the APAC region excluding Japan. It will also try to capitalise on the sustained economic growth and increasing wealth across the APAC region.

Bank of London and the Middle East (BLME) will launch the BLME High Yield Fund. The BLME High Yield Fund is a Sharia compliant fund which targets institutional and high net worth investors in Gulf countries seeking to generate higher returns than those targeted by BLME's US Dollar Income Fund.
By inventing up to 85% in sukuk and 15% in Ijara, BLME High Yield Fund targets a net return of three-month US dollar Libor in addition to a 5% return per annum.

The ASEAN Equity fund will target medium- to long-term capital growth by investing in a portfolio of equities in the ASEAN markets with specific focus on the markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand.
The fund has an offer period to June 26, 2011.

The Shoura Council has asked the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) to make a detailed study on consumer credit and investor credit in the Kingdom. They think such a study would shed light on the future prospects of credit schemes.
Under the Kingdom's investor credit program, the Saudi Industrial Development Fund is the most important of the credit institutions in the country. It provides marketing, technical and financial advice to all projects it finances to enhance their chances of success.

Mulya Siregar, Bank Indonesia’s sharia banking director, announced that the central bank supports sharia banks managing hajj funds. He thinks that only now can this become something possible.

A SR1 billion SME Fund is programmed to promote the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, or SMEs.
Khaled M. Al Aboodi, CEO, and general manager of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, or ICD, private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank Group stated that the fund should be Shariah-compliant and could take the form of a declining ‘musharaka’, which could address the issues.

The latest list of Shariah advisers serving the local Islamic capital market (ICM) and registered by the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC) reveales that five such individual foreign advisers are registered with the commission.
The list, published recently in Kuala Lumpur, displays that Malaysia has 45 individual Shariah advisers and 10 Shariah advisory companies registered with the commission, who are authorized to provide such advisory services to market players in the local ICM, which includes investment funds, asset management, unit trusts, sukuk, private debt securities and other fixed income instruments.

The Saudi Corporate Social Responsibility Forum to support small enterprises and assist productive families finance their projects. This decision came after a number of businessmen signed an agreement to set up a SR100-million Endowment (Waqf) fund. The corporate also decided to rehabilitate about 3,000 buildings in various cities and towns of Makkah region to be easily accessible to the disabled.
Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal stated that the establishment of the fund was aimed to achieve sustainable development.

NEST Corporation has choosen HSBC Life Amanah Pension Fund for its Sharia Fund. NEST is a simple and low-cost UK pension scheme designed to give its members an easy way of building up their retirement pot. It also makes it easy for employers to meet their new workplace pension duties that will start to be introduced from 2012.
Stuart White, HSBC Global Asset Management (UK) Institutional Director, pointed out that this pension scheme could transform UK's pension industry.

Inspite of its Investors now favour syariah-compliant funds and investment products instead of conventional counterparts. ASM Investment Services Bhd (ASM Investment) has the strong oppinion that this became more important because of multiple number of features that separated syariah funds from other conventional investment offerings.
Nik Mohamed Zaki Nik Yusoff, chief executive officer at ASM Investment, underlined the fact that their orporate clients, who consist mostly of GLCs (government-linked companies), prefer to opt for syariah funds.

Bank of London and The Middle East (BLME) stated that that they will launch a Light Industrial Building Fund (LIBF). This fund is a Sharia'a compliant UK real estate fund which invests in sustainable property assets.
The five core areas that set the foundations for BLME's competitive offering are Private Banking, Asset Management, Corporate Advisory, Corporate Banking and Markets Division.

A two-day International Conference on "Prospects for Islamic Venture Capital Funds in India" is being organized on May 14 & 15 at Parliament House Annexe, being part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the New Delhi based Institute of Objective Studies, (IOS).
Mr. K. Rahman Khan, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha will advise the inaugural session on May 14 which will start at 10 am.

The new Shari’ah-compliant fund appears to be coming at an opportune time for investors to mitigate these risks and to derive inflation-beating returns at lower volatility over the medium to long term. This fund makes way to a combination of global equity, property and income.
This fund has been designed in line with Oasis’s philosophy of matching risk strategies and potential investment returns to an individual’s age, investment time horizon and risk profile. Therefore, the Oasis Crescent Global Low Equity Balanced Fund is fit for investors who are looking for a low-risk investment that will still have the ability to beat inflation.

Dubai's ICD sovereign wealth fund has launched its largest loan since its financial crisis, containing a US$2.8 billion, five-year loan refinancing.
The leaders of an Islamic tranche will be: Dubai Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered, while Citigroup, Emirates Bank and HSBC Bank have been appointed to co-ordinate a conventional tranche.