IslamicFinance.de

The doings of Pope Francis have tended to be popular by default, but his Jubilee Year of Mercy is off to an unusually slow start. The ancient Hebrew jubilee was a periodic Sabbath year in which debts would be cleared away, slaves would be freed, and lands lost in the course of commerce would be returned. Jesus declared a jubilee as he began preaching the forgiveness of sins. But the forgiveness he preached began with repentance. Likewise, any jubilee must begin with the recognition that there are wrongs to be righted. Clearing away debts does not make sense if we consider debt an immovable reality, an amoral fact of life. To celebrate a jubilee, we need to recognize the usury in our midst.

Alongside the P2P lenders and crowdfunding platforms, challenger banks have continued to make their mark as leaders of the alternative finance revolution. One of those challengers is OakNorth, which launched last year. Sitting in a similar space to P2P lenders in terms of loan size, co-founder Rishi Khosla tells me that they really want to be known as the ‘entrepreneurs’ bank’. After obtaining a banking licence, the serial entrepreneur immediately set about building a relationship between the bank and P2P platform Crowd2Fund. One of its recent deals involved Thesqua.re, a London-based serviced apartments provider.

STWR’s Rajesh Makwana gave an interview at the annual World Goodwill seminar in November 2015. The conference featured a series of presentations and talks conducted in London, Geneva and New York and covered a full range of spiritual, political, environmental and social issues. He said that the eco-economy model that will lead us further is based on the principle of sharing, whereby we recognise that there is one planet worth of resources that we need to share and we distribute the resources in such a way that all people’s needs are met. We need to consider how we can become involved in trying to create the alternative, and in demanding change from our governments, he added.

Malaysia plans to tap the global Islamic bond market for a second consecutive year, joining Indonesia that’s planning a sale in March. Banks have reportedly been asked to submit proposals by next week for a benchmark dollar-denominated offer. Malaysia sold $1.5bn of US currency sukuk in April 2015, its first international bond issuance since 2011. The ringgit is the best-performing emerging-market Asian currency over the past three months as exports have held up and the government managed to keep its budget deficit within target even as oil prices slumped. Indonesia plans to offer Shariah-compliant sovereign dollar notes in March.

Tunisian Islamic bank Zitouna was the first to succeed in placing on the national financial market in December 2015 the Islamic bonds sukuk for a value of 22.5 million euros. The result exceeded expectations - set at 20 million euros - the management of Zitouna said. at a Forum on Islamic finance held at Kram in Tunis. The Forum was attended by several protagonists of the Tunisian economic and financial scenario like central bank governor, Chedly Ayari, the president of Cmf, Salah Sayel and former finance minister, Jalloul Ayed. Zitouna bank, on behalf of its president Ezzedine Khoja, has announced it is launching a new business plan in 2016-2020 with the objective of becoming the bank of reference in Tunisia and a leading Islamic bank in Africa.

GFH Financial Group (GFH) has announced its full year financial results for 2015 with a consolidated profit of US$ 29 million before provisions of US$17 million, and a net profit of US$ 12.0 million, signaling sustained profitability for the Group. Total consolidated income for 2015 was US$85 million, as compared to US$90 million in 2014. Net profit for 2015 was US$ 12 million compared to net profit of US$ 27.3 million for 2014. Commercial banking income attributed to US$57.8 million and investment banking income attributed to US$20.1 million, while real estate has contributed US$5.6 million. The Group reported a loss of US$ 5.95 million for the last quarter of 2015 compared to a profit of US$ 4.2 million for the last quarter of 2014.

C’est un chantier attendu depuis plusieurs années au Maroc qui sera inauguré sous peu. La finance islamique (ou participative) a fait l’objet d’une rencontre à laquelle plusieurs experts ont pris part ce mercredi 24 février, dans le cadre de la 7e édition du Forum africain de la finance islamique (FAFI) organisée à Casablanca, qui s’achève demain. Le développement de la finance participative devrait permettre au Maroc d’atteindre entre 3 et 5% du total des actifs bancaires, soit un potentiel estimé à 70 milliards de dirhams environ. Au Maroc, des décisions ont été prises pour disposer d’un comité "Charia" centralisé. Les infrastructures logistiques ont aussi commencé à se développer.

Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission and the Debt Management Office recently inaugurated a committee to oversee Nigeria's first sovereign sukuk, an Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond in Western Finance that complies with the Islamic religious law. CNBC Africa's Onyi Sunday spoke to Samira Mensah, Associate Director at Standard & Poor's to discuss the rising demand for Islamic finance products in Africa.

There are seven of the World Bank Group’s Climate Innovation Centers — in the Caribbean, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, and Vietnam. They support more than 270 clean-technology startups with training programs, grants and mentorship. Increasingly, the centers have turned to competitions to help entrepreneurs grow. Bootcamps and pitching competitions have emerged as promising opportunities for jump-starting an entrepreneur’s journey. Participants train intensively with seasoned entrepreneurs to perfect their pitch. They learn to showcase their business idea and strategy in mere minutes before a panel of judges. Winners bring home significant prizes — and, perhaps more important, connections with potential investors and a greater understanding of the business landscape.

In line with ADB’s commitment to support youth’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ADB and the world’s largest youth-run organization AIESEC, along with founding partners PVBLIC Foundation, Kinetic, Mekanism, and UN Habitat, launched the “Youth for Global Goals” (#Youth4GG) campaign at the Global Leaders’ Summit in Morocco on 16 February. #Youth4GG will serve as an activation platform for a collaborative effort between the youth and development stakeholders to create positive impact on the ground. To support the campaign, AIESEC’s YouthSpeak Survey will also provide insights to stakeholders regarding youth engagement to create and implement volunteering and social impact projects to achieve the SDGs.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced it is co-financing the development of a 318 million-euro high-tech hospital in Konya, a city in Turkey’s central Anatolian region. As part of a comprehensive long-term financial package, the EBRD has arranged a 147.5-million-euro-of syndicated loan under its A/B loan structure, with 67.5 million euros for the Bank’s own account and 80 million euros of syndicated to UniCredit Bank Austria AG and Siemens Financial Services. The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank are providing parallel financing of 50 million euros and 67.5 million euros respectively.

Iran’s leading financial conglomerate and senior members of Iranian government bodies met over 150 international investors in Muscat, Oman today to discuss inward investment opportunities across a range of Iran’s sectors and industries. The roadshow was hosted by Sina Financial & Investing Holding Co, Iran’s leading financial holding company. The agenda focused on opportunities created by the re-opening of the Iranian economy to foreign participation, as well as an in-depth discussion of Iran’s capital markets. The roadshow concluded with a business-to-business networking between Iranian and international delegates.

Qatar's largest sharia-compliant bank Masraf Al Rayan is expected to post annual profit growth of between 8 and 10 percent in 2016, Chairman Hussain Ali al-Abdulla said at the bank's annual general meeting. Masraf Al Rayan reported last month a 3.6 percent rise in full-year net profit in 2015 to 2.07 billion riyals, although its fourth-quarter earnings dipped slightly. Abdulla said the bank had no plans to issue sukuk this year as there was no need for additional liquidity. Falling liquidity is expected to be one of the main issues facing banks in the Gulf region in 2016, as governments remove cash on deposit to help replace lost revenue from lower hydrocarbon prices.

Adnan Ahmed Yousif, the head of Al Baraka Banking Group, said Turkey, and especially Istanbul, had the potential to become a hub for financial services. Yousif, who is the president and CEO of the Bahrain-based group, said Turkish economic administrators were aiming to broaden the services offered to customers, with special focus on participation banks. He also said Turkey's huge potential might facilitate the interest of investors from the Gulf countries as well as create new opportunities for the recently expanding sukuk market in Turkey.Turkey and especially Istanbul, is very close to participation banking markets, such as the GCC and Europe.

Khazanah Nasional Bhd has priced a 5-year US$750mil (RM3.15bil) US dollar-denominated straight sukuk to refinance Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd guaranteed notes at a significantly lower cost. The USD sukuk will be issued via Danga Capital Bhd. The USD sukuk was priced at a profit rate of 3.035% following an accelerated bookbuilding process which attracted demand of 1.5x booksize from financial institutions, asset management companies, statutory bodies and insurance companies. Khazanah achieved its target issue size at a spread of 178 basis points above prevailing 5-year US Treasuries. CIMB and DBS Bank Ltd are the Joint Global Coordinators while CIMB, DBS Bank Ltd. and Standard Chartered Bank are Joint Bookrunner.

Bahraini authorities will discuss with the U.S. Treasury the international banks’ reluctance to deal with Banks in Bahrain and the Gulf because of tight U.S. regulation, Bahrain’s central bank governor Rasheed Mohammed al-Maraj said. The fact that many international banks have curtailed their correspondent services with regional and local banks has affected a wide sector of the population, especially the expatriates, he added. According to Maraj, officials in Bahrain, had met U.S. Treasury officials last November and scheduled another meeting on the issue in April. The U.S. regulations imposed on Bahrain, one of the Gulf’s financial centers, are part of a tougher regime introduced since the financial crisis, include scrutiny of potential tax avoidance and anti-money laundering rules.

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday interrogated director of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited and its audit committee chairman ANM Burhan Uddin in connection with a graft allegation. ACC deputy director Shamsul Alam questioned him for two hours from 11 am at the ACC head office in the capital, ACC Public Relations officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya said. According to the allegation received by the national graft watchdog, Burhan Uddin influenced the bank management in hiring a deputy general director by concealing information, and also misused his power in resolving audit objections of the bank for his personal interest, according to UNB.

Euris Group wants to develop Islamic Finance in Europe. The firm designed a banking concept and is now promoting its project, a Shari'ah compliant private bank in Luxembourg. The European market remains fragmented and far from comprehensive. To fill the gap, it's necessary to build a pure player, i.e. a fully fledged Islamic bank in the Eurozone. From there, a lot will remain to be done: entering the retail and commercial banking space, providing Takaful solutions to European customers and exploring the relevant investment banking opportunities, especially when it comes to European Sukuk. Euris Group chose Luxembourg because it occupies a central position at the heart of the Eurozone.

Islamic banking can provide an array of financial products that would help boost an economy that's dominated by small businesses and start-ups. These small entities make a very huge contribution to greater economic growth. That said, many of Uganda's local banks regard these entities as "too small" and only want to characterise them as "start-ups" which they don't finance. Islamic Finance also provides for the Qard el-Hasan or a benevolent loan. Conventional banks provide these products in same form. However, there is a huge difference in the detail of how all this pans out. Islamic finance is the embodiment of the type of capital that will help boost a growing economy.

Fitch Ratings says tougher operating conditions in Kuwait and the region will translate into slower growth for Islamic banks during the year, albeit in line with industry trends. The Islamic Banks Dashboard published today covers Kuwait's Islamic banking sector comprising five banks (out of 10 domestic banks) which hold a total market share of 39% (by assets). Fitch believes that Islamic financing growth will moderate in 2016 due to a sharper-than-expected fall in oil prices and the resulting impact on the economy and business environment. The sector is, however, expected to remain profitable despite weaker operating income and higher impairment charges.