IslamicFinance.de

Warba Bank's financing portfolio grew by 40 percent to KD 543.8 million at the end of 2015, compared with KD 388.2 at the end of 2014. The bank's total assets reached KD 776.1 million at the end of 2015, compared with KD 594.8 million in 2014 with a growth rate of 30 percent, Vice Chairman and CEO Al Jassar Dakheel Al-Jassar added during the bank's general assembly on Wednesday. In 2015, the bank achieved significant growth in its operating income, which rose by about KD 7.7 million and amounted to KD 26.3 million, marking a growth of 42 percent compared with KD 18.5 million in 2014, Al Jassar stated.

Standard Chartered Saadiq has announced to enhance its offering for clients looking for Shariah-compliant banking products and services. The enhanced Saadiq product suite includes Home Finance with fixed pricing for up to three years so the clients can benefit from prevailing low market rates and the Saadiq World Miles Credit Card. In order to address the needs of its business banking clients, Saadiq has also launched a new product: Saadiq Business Term Finance, a Shariah compliant solution for clients to manage their business expenditures by availing financing against their existing property.

Nogaholding, the holding company for oil and gas assets owned by the government of Bahrain, signed to obtain a five-year, $570 million murabaha financing facility. The Islamic funding will support investment in a number of large oil and gas projects in the kingdom, including the BAPCO Modernisation Programme, a liquefied natural gas import terminal, and the Bahrain Gas Plant Project. The facility is provided by 10 international, regional and local institutions: Arab Banking Corp, Ahli United Bank, Arab Petroleum Investments Corp, Gulf International Bank, National Bank of Bahrain, Qatar Islamic Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas and HSBC.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak spent about $15 million on luxury goods from his personal bank accounts. On Christmas Eve 2014, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stepped onto Hawaii’s 18-hole Kaneohe Klipper course for a round of golf diplomacy with U.S. President Barack Obama. Off the fairways, another side of Mr. Najib’s time in office was on display. Two days earlier, the prime minister’s credit card was charged $130,625 to Chanel in Honolulu. The credit card was paid from one of several private bank accounts owned by Mr. Najib that global investigators believe received hundreds of millions of dollars diverted from the indebted state-run fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

UDA Holdings Bhd has signed financing agreements with financial institutions for a syndicated Islamic financing facility of up to RM500mil to finance its eight projects with an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM1.62bil. The financiers are Affin Islamic Bank Bhd, AmBank Islamic Bhd, RHB Islamic Bank Bhd, Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd and Kuwait Finance House (M) Bhd. UDA managing director Datuk Ahmad Abu Bakar said the finance facility would be use to partly fund the construction of the projects nationwide and the rest would be funded by sales. The eight projects comprise commercial and residential developments.

Abstract:

UN study paper on the humanitarian financing gap.

Excerpt:
"The world today spends around US$ 25 billion to provide life-saving assistance to 125 million people devastated by wars and natural disasters. While this amount is twelve times greater than fifteen years ago, never before has generosity been so insufficient. Over the last years conflicts and natural disasters have led to fast-growing numbers of people in need and a funding gap for humanitarian action of an estimated US$ 15 billion. This is a lot of money, but not out of reach for a world producing US$ 78 trillion of annual GDP.

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) has announced investment of about Tk 155 crore to acquire 10 percent stakes in Bangladesh's Al-Arafah Islami Bank. Al-Arafah Islami Bank will issue around 11 crore fresh shares of Tk 10 each with Tk 4 as premium to the ICD. Khaled Al Aboodi, chief executive officer of the ICD, and Badiur Rahman, chairman of Al-Arafah Islami Bank, inked the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations. The investment is, however, subject to shareholder consent and regulatory approvals from the central bank, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and other relevant authorities.

Islamic bond sales are off to a racing start this year as Malaysia plans to tap the market following Indonesia’s $2.5bn issue, which was more than three times oversubscribed. Global sukuk offerings of $11.3bn are already 30% more than the first quarter of last year and are approaching the $12bn for the same period of 2014. Malaysia selected JPMorgan Chase & Co, CIMB Group Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd and HSBC Holdings to arrange investor meetings for as early as the end of this week. Emerging-market dollar bonds are rallying this quarter after commodities rebounded and the Federal Reserve signalled a more gradual pace for US interest-rate increases.

Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) and Saturna Sdn. Bhd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of US-based Saturna Capital Corporation, plan to sign an agreement to cooperate in offering sustainable Islamic investment vehicles. The parties sign the agreement at the Responsible Finance Summit in Kuala Lumpur on March 30. This partnership highlights ICD’s dedication to promoting the adoption of responsible investment principles in Islamic finance. In choosing Saturna as its partner, ICD will be tapping the firm’s expertise in global values-based investing and its experience in managing US-based Amana Funds as well as Saturna Sustainable Funds.

In a statement to Qatar Stock Exchange on 30 March, it was revealed that Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) is planning a Sukuk issue of up to QAR 3 billion. The bank’s General Assembly gave the nod to the extension of its approval to issue Additional Tier 1 Sukuk nonconvertible into ordinary shares of up to QAR 3 billion. The meeting delegated the bank’s board of directors' to decide the size of each issuance ,terms and conditions and issuance currency. QIIB CEO Abdulbasit A al-Shaibei was quoted as saying the Sukuk would be issued before the end of April to boost the bank’s capital ratio.

Qatar's Islamic lender QIIB achieved increase and growth in its various banking activities over the past year. The AGM approved the Board of Directors' proposal to distribute 40% cash dividends of the nominal value per share which is equivalent to QR4 per share. Besides, the bank is expecting approval from authorities in Morocco for its joint venture by the end of third quarter this year. The lender had signed a joint venture agreement with CIH Bank (Credit Immobilier et Hotelier), a Moroccan bank, for the establishment of a bank in Morocco in December last year. Under the agreement, QIIB will have 40% stake in the proposed bank.

Nogaholding, the holding company for oil and gas assets owned by the government of Bahrain, signed to obtain a five-year, $570 million murabaha financing facility. The Islamic funding will support investment in a number of large oil and gas projects in the kingdom, including the BAPCO Modernisation Programme, a liquefied natural gas import terminal, and the Bahrain Gas Plant Project. The facility is provided by 10 international, regional and local institutions: Arab Banking Corp, Ahli United Bank, Arab Petroleum Investments Corp, Gulf International Bank, National Bank of Bahrain, Qatar Islamic Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas and HSBC.

CGAP recently published new guidelines for funders of financial inclusion which encourage funders to take a market systems approach. Market systems approaches have been applied in other sectors, notably agriculture and enterprise development, for many years and lessons and operational tools have been developed based on these experiences. In financial inclusion, experiences with market systems approaches are still rare and there is a limited body of accessible knowledge on how to operationalize a market systems approach in financial inclusion. To fill this gap, CGAP plans to develop a series of case studies that illustrate the practice of market systems development and highlight implications for funders’ strategies and operations.

Saudi's Alkhabeer Capital has released the 2016 edition of its report reviewing GCC governments’ budgets. The report analyses the latest budgets of the region’s governments, the recent reform measures announced and the broader, long-term implications of the political will to improve efficiencies, curb wasteful expenditures and instill fiscal discipline. Citing the emergence of government imperatives in the region to refocus budget priorities and reduce extravagance, Alkhabeer’s report expects expenditure levels in the GCC to reflect a cautious stance on spending as the region adopts unprecedented measures to counter the plunge in oil prices since June 2014.

The Thomson Reuters Global Sukuk Index was last at 118.52310 points, up from 116.97354 at the end of last year. The Thomson Reuters Investment Grade Sukuk Index is at 116.74988 points against 115.21206 at end-2015. Some of the sukuk in the pipeline are the following: Saudi International Petrochemical Co said in late March that it had appointed Riyad Capital and NCB Capital as lead managers for a sukuk issue, without giving further details. Saudi Arabian Airlines plans to raise 5 billion riyals (US$1.3 billion) via the first tranche of a sukuk issuance programme in the second or third quarter of this year. Kuwait's Boubyan Bank aims to issue US$250 million of sukuk before the end of April.

The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) will hold a Sharia Capital Market Exhibition at the IDX building in Jakarta from March 30 to April 2, as part of an effort to attract more investors to sharia products in the capital market. IDX development director Nicky Horgan said the exhibition was aimed at increasing people's knowledge about capital market products, especially sharia-compliant stocks. The IDX aims for 5,000 new sharia investors this year, a 100 percent increase from 2014. The four-day festival supported by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) will feature 44 companies, including sharia and sukuk issuers, investment managers and securities companies, and is expected to attract 6,000 visitors.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and President of the Islamic Development Bank Group Dr. Mohamed Ali Al-Madani arrived in Lebanon today at the start of a joint visit to rally global support for the shared responsibility of promoting peace and development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The three organizations are jointly supporting an initiative to raise additional financing needed to help countries in the region cope with the immediate consequences of conflict, while laying the foundations for recovery and reconstruction. Following the Lebanon visit, World Bank President Kim and Secretary General Ban will travel together to Jordan and Tunisia.

The chairman of Bahrain-based First Energy Bank, Khadem al-Qubaisi, and board member Mohamed al-Husseiny have reportedly left the bank, with a new chairman to be appointed shortly, after approval by the central bank of Bahrain. Al Qubaisi was one of the most prominent executives in the United Arab Emirates until the UAE energy minister replaced him as managing director of state-owned International Petroleum Investment Co last April. Husseiny was replaced as chief executive of Aabar last year after holding that post since 2010. Unlisted First Energy Bank reported a net loss of $375.2 million for 2015.

“Financing Development Through Islamic Capital Market – a viable Alternative" was the theme of the a recent 2ND regional roundtable on Islamic finance which held on March 14, 2016. This was towards advancing effort by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at expanding the depth of the Nigerian Capital Market and promoting financial inclusiveness through the Capital Market. This was in line with the SEC’s strategic Ten year Master Plan on Non-Interest Capital Market. The workshop aimed at encouraging states to explore the alternative model for financing infrastructure projects through Islamic Capital Market Products such as Sukuk.