IslamicFinance.de

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has launched four new Wakala Deposit product variants. The DIB Wakala Deposit product variants offer various schemes in terms of tenures and profit rates. DIB’s Long Term Wakala Deposits offer a 15.25% profit rate on a 5 year, or 8% profit rate on a 3 year tenure. Customers can also subscribe to DIB Maximizer Deposits, an 18-month facility which is developed on step-up profit rates of up to 6%. Furthermore, the Recurring Wakala Deposit is a deposit product whereby a fixed amount is deposited on a monthly basis. A minimum goal of AED 12,000 (AED 1,000 per month) is agreed upon – as well as the recurring instalment payments.

Iranian banks have opened more than 480 million euros of credit through Iran-Europe Commercial Bank (IECB). An amount of 108 million euros of the total €480 million belongs to Bank of Industry and Mine while the rest are owned by other banks in the country including Mellat and Tejarat banks. The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has announced that the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is up and running and there exist no barriers to opening LCs via SWIFT. Registered in Hamburg, Germany, the IECB officially welcomed international banking relations with Iran.

Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is set to initiate talks with the Reserve Bank of India to allow them to introduce Islamic Financing in India. Islamic finace refers to the ways by which corporations who are a part of the IDB group, including banks and other lending institutions, raise capital in accordance with or Islamic law. IDB is also looking at starting interest-free banking in the country wherein instead of extending cash loans, the lender buys and leases the product for which the loan is required. And it earns rental on it.

Année charnière pour CIH Bank qui compte étoffer davantage son périmètre de consolidation. 2016 marquera, entre autres, la naissance de la filiale dédiée aux OPCI (organismes de placement collectif immobilier). L’entité, créée conjointement avec la CDG, devra se concentrer sur la gestion de sociétés et de fonds investis directement ou indirectement dans l’immobilier locatif. L’entreprise devra attendre la promulgation de la loi 70-14, qui régit ce nouveau véhicule de placement ainsi que l’agrément du nouveau gendarme de la bourse. Entre temps, la banque se prépare pour le lancement de son autre filiale, dédiée à la finance participative

A report launched by Thomson Reuters on Friday -- called "Indonesia Islamic Finance: Prospects for Exponential Growth" -- says the country's shariah finance industry recorded 559 trillion rupiah ($42.3 billion) in assets as of 2014, merely 3% of the country's financial industry assets overall. However, while the total financial sector's assets grew by 42% during the 2010-2014 period, assets for shariah finance surged by 139%. Boosted by government infrastructure spending and road maps for development of shariah finance, Indonesia's Islamic finance sector is expected to record double growth over the next five years.

Meethaq organised a series of meetings to highlight the role of Islamic finance in the economic development of Oman. The Shua’a initiative by Meethaq to raise awareness on Islamic economics was attended by members of the Majlis Ash’shura Economic Committee. A similar meeting held in the Higher Judicial Institute in Nizwa was attended by scholars, researchers, entrepreneurs and students. The meetings addressed by senior Meethaq officials covered a wide gamut of areas, including savings account, asset management and project finance. Meethaq is focused on developing as a benchmark Islamic financial institution in Oman and the region.

Jaiz Bank, the pioneer Islamic bank in Nigeria, has concluded plans to go national, few months after it received an approval-in-principle from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend its business nationwide. Authorities at the bank said additional branches would soon open in Lagos, Ibadan, Ilorin and Port Harcourt.

Resetting Priorities - Redefining Roles

Five years ago, the Global Donors Forum was convened in Dubai to take on a challenging task: to define the roadmap for Muslim giving into the next decade. As a growing network of philanthropists, grantmaking foundations and socially responsible corporations, the Forum lead a consultative dialogue among the thought leaders from which, it was hoped, a new social compact could emerge.

Half a decade on, with the world having changed dramatically as events in the Middle East would attest, the Global Donors Forum 2016, has a new set of issues to focus upon. Foremost among these is the need to rigorously analyse the past decade in order to ascertain how best to formulate strategies to counter emerging challenges. The GDF 2016 will, therefore, attempt to set new priorities as it looks to redefine the role of philanthropy, with a focus on the Muslim world in a radically changed global landscape.

China is preparing for an unprecedented overhaul in how it treats its trillions in non-performing loans. They officially amount to $614 billion but are realistically anywhere between 8% and 20% of China's total $35 trillion in bank assets. It is the unknown treatment of these NPLs that has been the greatest threat to China's just as vast deposit base amounting to well over $20 trillion, which has been the fundamental catalyst behind China's record capital flight as depositors have been eager to move their savings as far from China's domestic banks as possible. As a result, China is reportedly preparing regulations that would allow commercial banks to swap non-performing loans of companies for stakes in those firms.

Financial Services Authority held an exhibition of Islamic financial products and services of Islamic Financial Fair (KSF) 2016 in Jakarta Gandaria City Mall in an effort to continuously introduce and bring people to the products and service of Islamic finance. KSF is also done in launch Working Group named SiKOMPAK Syariah (Synergy Communications and Marketing Joint of Islamic Finance) which is a joint program of the OJK and the Islamic Financial Industry in marketing Islamic financial products and services. In addition, OJK also launched Standard Book for Islamic Banking products such as Murabaha, Musharaka products and Musharaka Mutanaqisah.

Indonesia is likely to defeat Turkey to host the Islamic Development Bank’s (IDB) headquarters, a spokesman of the bank has said. Indonesia's strategic position and role during the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit were two driving factors behind the decision. IDB Indonesia country director Ibrahim Shoukry said the bank had committed to investing US$1.2 billion on projects in Indonesia over five years. Indonesia, he further said, had some advantages over Turkey due to its prospective market in Asia, which is healthier than Turkey's main market, Europe. Indonesia’s market will be broader due to the ASEAN Economic Community.

National mortgage corporation Cagamas Bhd is issuing its second Singapore dollar-denominated sukuk worth S$150mil. The sukuk, to be issued through subsidiary Cagamas Global Sukuk Bhd, will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Cagamas. The issuance, with a maturity of one year, comes under Cagamas’ US$2.5bil multicurrency sukuk issuance programme. The proceeds of the sukuk will be used to fund the purchase of Islamic home financing from the financial system. The issuance will bring the company’s aggregate issuance for this year to RM3.2bil.

The Islamic subsidiary of Turkey's Ziraat Bank has launched a bitesize $75m murabaha deal, as the bank itself refinances $1bn of loans. Ziraat Participation (Ziraat Katilim Bankasi), which is wholly owned by Ziraat Bank, launched a $75m dual currency loan earlier this week — its first ever syndicated deal, according to a lead banker. Banks can make commitments in euros and dollars. ABC Islamic Bank is co-ordinator.

Jaiz Bank has concluded plans to go national, few months after it received an approval-in-principle from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend its business nationwide. Authorities at the bank said additional branches would soon open in Lagos, Ibadan, Ilorin and Port Harcourt.

The Republic of Indonesia begins global roadshows on Thursday for a new global sukuk deal, its first benchmark borrowing of the year in the offshore markets. The prospective Reg S/144a transaction is being led by CIMB, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered. A few weeks ahead of the roadshow, Robert Pakpahan, Indonesia's director general of budget financing and risk management, spoke about the sovereign's funding plans for the year. Pakpahan says he hopes declining oil prices and shrinking investment funds from the Middle East will not affect the pricing prospects for the new deal.

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) will launch the Islamic fund and wealth management blueprint sometime this year, in a bid to firmly establish Malaysia as an international Islamic capital market centre. The blueprint, which is formulated by the SC, will chart the medium to long term strategic direction for the industry as well as map out strategies and recommendations to strengthen Malaysia's competitive edge, said the SC. The strategies are expected to reinforce the industry's sustainability and will include, among others, strengthening global capabilities of market intermediaries and seizing new market opportunities.

MSCI has launched its ratings service to measure the environmental, social and governance focus of portfolio holdings. The ESG Fund Metrics will measure funds’ exposure to factors such as sustainable impact, values alignment and ESG risks, including carbon footprint. According to the metrics, each fund will receive an overall score from zero to ten, which indicates the ability of holdings to manage various levels of risks. It will also use a peer group percentile rank and individual ‘E’, ‘S’ and ‘G’ scores. The percentile ranking will be relative to all global funds receiving a score, as well as relative to the fund’s peer group.

The easy triumphalism about capitalism that ruled at the beginning of this century has given way to a much sharper debate about whether the system is a genuine wealth creator. Such talk has permeated conversation in the most elite business institutions. In both 2012 and 2016, the leaders of the World Economic Forum placed the future of capitalism at the heart of their annual agenda because, as founder Klaus Schwab put it, 'capitalism in its current form no longer fits the world around us'. Though no one disputes capitalism's raw force, the deeper issue is whether the free-market system, has been asking the wrong questions, examining the wrong data, reaching the wrong conclusions and pursuing the wrong goals.

A combination of economic uncertainty and political possibility is giving new life to an old policy idea: basic income. In Ottawa, a federal MP is pushing for government research on the subject. Ontario's provincial budget announced a pilot program to try it out. In Quebec, a cabinet minister has been assigned to study the topic. Basic income is capturing political imaginations in Canada. Also known as guaranteed minimum income, universal income, guaranteed annual income, or a negative income tax, basic income is a social policy that would supplant various welfare programs by providing a baseline amount of money to all citizens, regardless of whether they work or meet a means test.

In Mongolia, a project assisted by ADB and the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction used storytelling to help people protect themselves through saving and financial planning. The global financial crisis and a dry spell followed by another dzud or a long severe winter in 2008 to 2010 pointed out the obvious: with no financial safety nets, the most vulnerable households needed financial education. The project developed a soap opera called A course that helps you become a millionaire, which became the second most watched program nationwide in 2015. The plots were based on the information needs of the target viewers – 24 issues were identified, translated as behavioral messages and included in the scripts.