IslamicFinance.de

Al Hilal Bank has announced that it will continue its sustainability efforts of switching off the lights in its branches and offices after working hours and will add a new green initiative in commemoration of World Environment Day on June 5, 2013. Since dimmer screens save energy by as much as 20 per cent, the bank will promote and offer dark-themed backgrounds and screensavers via strategic websites, emailers, Facebook tabs and Twitter links. Through its online campaigns for its ‘Go dark’ initiative, Al Hilal hopes to encourage more organizations and individuals to support simple actions that protect the environment. World Environment Day is celebrated every year on the 5th of June and organized by UNEP - theUnited Nations Environment Programme. This year’s event was held under the theme ‘Think.Eat.Save.’ and was hosted by Mongolia.

In Kyrgyzstan, state-owned companies play a significant role in the economy, especially in the banking, mining, and transportation sectors. Cronyism and corruption within these companies presents a major obstacle to Kyrgyzstan’s market- economic transition. The existing dynamic only reinforces a patronage system—the antithesis to democracy—resulting in poor economic performance and public service delivery. To reduce such overt political influence in corporate management and increase board independence, CIPE and its local partner, the Corporate Governance School (CGS), are educating board members from state-owned enterprises about the principles of corporate governance. During 56 hours of lectures, discussions and case studies, participants learn the fundamentals of corporate governance, including the function and responsibilities of boards of directors.

Qatari entrepreneur and philanthropist, Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah al-Thani and International Islamic CEO, Abdulbasit A. al-Shaibei participated in the celebrations held as part of the Charity Art and Photography Auction at the College of North Atlantic in Qatar on May 22. More than 100 selections of art and photography were up for bids. The majority of these pieces have been donated by members of CNA-Q’s art and photography clubs. The proceeds from the auction will go to Qatar Red Crescent. Institutions such as Qatar Red Crescent are committed to serving the local community and others in need. Through various projects they undertake such initiatives.

The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and Ernst & Young LLP have released a report – Value of Sustainability Reporting – that offers insights on the benefits of sustainability reporting, assuring sustainability reports, and the risks of not reporting. In today's business environment, sustainability reporting is evolving into a core business practice for companies around the world. Companies have reported a variety of motivations, including transparency, competitive advantage, risk management and stakeholder pressure. Moreover, the survey found that more than two-thirds of respondents indicated to employ the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework in the preparation of their reports. Data-related issues were identified as challenges in the reporting process. The Value of Sustainability Reporting is based on the findings of a comprehensive survey of 579 corporate professionals familiar with their companies’ sustainability disclosures.

In the Middle East CSR is largely characterised by a charity mindset, easily regarded as archaic by outsiders. However, the region’s CSR focus on charity is explained by the general perception that CSR is a corporate form of Zakat, one of Islam’s five pillars, which stipulates that Muslims give a certain percentage of their wealth in charity. Saudi companies primarily focus their CSR activities on programmes that have little to do with these companies’ core activities. Some present aid to the handicapped while others support and encourage young Saudi citizens to join the labour force. Some concerns, however, receive little or no attention, such as environmental issues, human rights of guest workers or the equal treatment of women in the workplace. The CSR focus on charity is deeply rooted in religious tradition. Therefore, CSR in the Middle East will develop along its own path.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reviewed the Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Regulation to align with international best practise as well as other anti laundering and terrorism acts of the country. The CBN said it aims to ensure that with the cooperation of operators and stakeholders in the Nigerian financial sector, the reviewed Regulations meet international best practice and FATF requirements. In view of this, it called for contributions and comments from relevant stakeholders on the draft review prior to gazetting and release of the document to the industry. CBN has commenced full implementation of its gazetted Anti Money Laundering and Combating Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) Risk Based Supervision (RBS) framework enunciated in 2011.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) of the Islamic Development Bank agreed today to cooperate in the Arab States region on fighting poverty and creating jobs. The first area of joint work is an initiative to boost employment through trade reforms. The newly-signed Aid for Trade Initiative for Arab States will spearhead trade reforms in Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa with the aim of bringing about pro-poor economic growth. The Aid for Trade Initiative for Arab States was endorsed by the 3rd Arab Economic and Social Development Summit, held in January 2013. It is funded by the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation -- a unit of the Islamic Development Bank Group -- as well as the Governments of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Sweden and UNDP.

Chairman of Al-Eslah Society (Islamic Society for Social Reform) Humoud Hamad Al-Roumi said at the 10th meeting of Deewan Al-Khair, an event that is part of Kuwaiti forum for charity work that Kuwait is a pioneer in the field of charity with all its various forms. Head of Al-Rahma International Charity's Palestine Office Dr. Waleed Al-Anjari offered a presentation about Gaza reconstruction project which reached the cost of USD 25 million, including various forms of humanitarian relief. Head of the Al-Rahma International Charity's Djibouti Office, Sa'ed Al-Otaibi, tackled his experience of charity work in Djibouti with the participation of young Kuwaitis in a journey they called "Life that has no life" in a country of total population of one million people. The majority of them are suffering from severe poverty.

As they shift towards more market-based economies, Arab companies can no longer afford to neglect demands for greater accountability and transparency in the boardroom. Ten years ago companies had their own practices and policies addressing accountability and social responsibility but there were no regulatory precepts and little attention paid to details of transparency or conflict of interest – issues crucial to the running of a modern business. Today 14 of the 17 MENA economies have a corporate code of some description and “hawkamah” (the Arabic word for governance) is becoming more than just a catchphrase. But while some countries are making great strides improving accountability and transparency, in many of the countries that need it most - those experiencing political, social and economic transition with an urgent need for foreign investment and jobs - the process has faltered.

Burj Bank has launched an employee driven CSR initiative called “Giving beyond the Workplace Campaign”. As part of the programme, Burj Bank Employees along with the Senior Management team visited the TCF (The Citizen’s Foundation) Qayyumabad campus. Burj Bank members adopted one class each for the day where they spent their time in storytelling, book reading and educating the students about the importance of Earth Day. Moreover, Mr. Ahmed Khizer Khan, President & CEO of Burj Bank also presented a donation cheque from Burj Bank’s Charity Fund to Asaad Ayub Ahmad, President & CEO of TCF. This marked the beginning of a new relationship between the two organizations.

Mercer in partnership with the Institute for International Research Middle East (IIRME), will be presenting the findings of its latest survey on Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Programs, Policies and Practices in the region at the 10th CSR Summit held on May 21, 2013 at The Address Hotel Dubai Marina. Taking place over a period from April to May, 2013, the results will be ready for sharing at the conference organised by IIRME on the very same topic. The session will also provide a platform for benchmarking local practices to the global findings from the survey. The survey is open until May 1st, 2013.

Islamic Development Bank plans to grant Kyrgyzstan $17.5 million for implementation of the Sustainable Villages Development Programme. The draft agreement between the Islamic Development Bank and the Kyrgyz government was approved by the Committee for Foreign Affairs on April 22. For the first stage of the project there will be allotted $9 millions, $6 millions of which is to be given by IDB; and $3 millions will be allocated for the second stage by the Islamic Solidarity Fund.

Burj Bank has launched an employee driven CSR initiative called "Giving beyond the Workplace Campaign". As part of the program, Burj Bank Employees along with the Senior Management team visited the TCF (The Citizen's Foundation) Qayyumabad campus as an Earth Day CSR Activity. Burj Bank members adopted one class each for the day where they spent their time in storytelling, book reading and educating the students about the importance of Earth Day. Ahmed Khizer Khan, President & CEO of Burj Bank also presented a donation cheque from Burj Bank's Charity Fund to Asaad Ayub Ahmad, President & CEO of TCF.

The report “State of Social Performance in Nepal” from the US-based Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) examines the social performance (SP) of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Nepal. The report notes that the biggest SP management challenge facing the 37 Nepali MFIs is that of tracking outcomes related to institutions’ development goals. The report “Trends in Sharia-Compliant Financial Inclusion” presents an analysis of recent advancements in Sharia-compliant financial inclusion as well as challenges inhibiting its further expansion. Finding sustainable Islamic models could be the key to providing financial access to millions of poor Muslims. In the report “Private Sector Development Solutions – Jobs”, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) argues that good jobs provide a clear pathway out of poverty. Because 60 percent of the developing world’s current jobs are in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, the authors highlight the need for enhanced access to finance to allow for more investment and growth.

Independent consulting firm CSR Lebanon held the 3rd CSR Lebanon Forum on March 18 and 19 entitled "Corporate Social Responsibility in Times of Uncertainty". The fórum was attended by more than 500 leaders from the business community, government, civil society and academia. Among them, there were 30 international, regional and local corporate sustainability experts, along with chief representatives from the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). All speakers and international representatives provided business cases which Lebanon can build upon to promote responsible business practices and transparent sustainability reporting.

Through the Banking on Change Partnership, CARE, Plan, and Barclays have developed new savings-led products based on a link between informal savings groups and Barclays bank branches. To date, Banking on Change has developed three different types of savings accounts and an overdraft facility. The Uwezo savings product in Kenya is a good example of a product designed with client needs in mind. By allowing group accounts, Barclays has lowered its transaction costs. Currently with the Uwezo account, withdrawals and deposits are free, there is no maintenance fee, and the opening balance requirement is 2,000 Kenyan Shillings (around US$23). But to truly scale up a product, you need an appropriate delivery channel to reach an existing large-scale market. For formal financial providers to engage in this area, more research is needed on product development.

The Economic Committee at the Shura Council is set to accept the $50m development loan from the IDB to encourage the growth of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), with $320,000 set aside for logistical aid and worker training programs. Repayment will begin three years after the grace period for withdrawal. Ghadi Wali, secretary general of Egypt’s Social Fund for Development (SFD), said that the SFD will employ a number of international experts in order to review the potential outcome and effects of the IDB loan. She said that the SFD’s goal would be to distinguish between real losses and those suffered as a result of Egypt’s depreciating currency.

Zakat House General Manager Abdul Qader Al-Ojail asserted that Kuwait Finance House (KFH) is known for supporting the community, and is considered to be one of the authority's main partners in charity. Al-Ojail received two cheques with a total value of KD8.8m from KFH's Chairman Mohammed Al-Khodairi, in order to financially support Zakat House charitable projects and activities. Al-Khodairi said that KFH's priority is to contribute to the success of Kuwait development projects and to serve the society, in addition to supporting projects executed by official charity institutions.

UAE's Minister of Finance called upon the Arab world to invest more than US$80 billion (Dh293.84bn) in agriculture to help to bridge a widening food gap. Without investment to increase output, the shortfall in food in the region would rise from a value of $41bn in 2010 to $89bn in 2020. Poor infrastructure, instability in parts of the region and lack of investment in scientific research were among the factors why agriculture projects in the Arab world were not achieving the targeted rises in production. In an effort to help tackle food security, officials agreed to double the capital of the Arab Authority for Agriculture Investment and Development, a multilateral lender aimed at promoting investment in agriculture.

After the Arab Spring, an international but Arab-led investment plan is urgently needed to deal directly with the job shortage and promote economic stability across the region. The Arab Stabilization Plan is a private sector led policy response that envisages a multilateral economic plan. It focuses on creating jobs through fast tracked, project-based investment, achieving significant returns for investors and countries alike. However, the prospect of the private sector acting alone to restore economic growth is dim. In order to ensure a safer transition and prevent further instability and the potential for extremism, there is an urgent need for investment intervention over the medium term. Through a common regional investment platform, participating countries would be able to benefit through enhanced regional economic development, stability and security.