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Healthcare company NMC Health failed to reach agreement with its creditors. Its major lender, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) has filed an application in the UK's High Court requesting the company be placed into administration. ADCB’s exposure to NMC amounts to around $981m. US short seller Muddy Waters raised questions about the company’s true level of debt in December. In February the stock was suspended after the investigation turned up inconsistencies in its finances and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority opened an investigation into the business.

The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) has issued three short-term A-1 rated sukuk for a total amount of USD1.06 billion. The auction drew more than USD1.85 billion in demand. With over 60 orders from diversified investors, the Islamic Primary Dealers got allocations across all tenors of up to 90% of the total issuances. The USD300 million 1-month sukuk were offered at 1.15%, while the USD460 million 3-month and USD300 million 6-month series were offered at 1.55% and 1.73%, respectively. With today’s auction, the IILM successfully crossed the 100th mark in sukuk issued since 2013, which amounts to a cumulative issuances of over USD53 billion.

An official of Indonesia’s National Committee for Islamic Economy and Finance (KNEKS) says that Islamic finance instruments and domestic retail sukuk are more sustainable financial support alternatives for COVID-hit MSMEs than loans from multilaterals. Indonesia’s government last week announced a 405.1 trillion rupiah ($24.65 billion) financial package to support households and businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The potential of zakat in Indonesia is valued at around 286 trillion rupiah a year, according to the national zakat body BAZNAS. But actual collection is a far cry, at around only 9.5 trillion rupiah ($577.3 million) in 2019. On the possibility of a domestic retail sukuk, there are ongoing discussions on the instrument’s structure and mechanisms.

According to rating agency Moody’s, Islamic finance is set to keep expanding in 2020 and beyond as the GCC countries and Malaysia help drive growth in Shariah-compliant financial products. Moody’s VP-Senior Credit Officer Nitish Bhojnagarwala expects sukuk issuance to remain stable at around $180 billion this year and the takaful insurance market will see steady growth. He added that downside risks are also rising because of the coronavirus outbreak, as prolonged market disruption could dissuade issuers from coming to market. The rating agency expects flat growth in total global issuance this year after a 36% rise in 2019 to $179 billion. Islamic banking penetration in the core Islamic financial markets of GCC, Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey, increased to 31.2% in September 2019, from 25.5% in 2013.

According to Malaysian Principal Islamic Asset Management CEO Datuk Syed Mashafuddin Syed Badarudin, Islamic investments are less volatile than their conventional counterparts and may be a better choice for investors during times of uncertainty. He notes that the increased uncertainty from the coronavirus outbreak has led to financial market volatility not seen since the last global financial crisis. Asean countries, including Malaysia, have already cut policy rates in response to the turmoil. Based on real interest rates in the region, there is more room for rate cuts and this bodes well for bond prices. Badarudin expects that market conditions will continue to be volatile until some stability is seen regarding the virus situation. He expects Principal Islamic to increase its asset size this year despite the more challenging economy.

The crisis surrounding NMC Health widened, as the struggling hospital operator rejected a call to be put into administration and United Arab Emirates’ banks disclosed more than $2 billion of exposure. The next chapter opens Thursday when a U.K. court is scheduled to hear Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC’s bid to place NMC into the hands of administrators. With a market value of $2.4 billion and total debt of $6.6 billion, NMC now faces an investigation by the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority.

The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) is organising an online workshop on Financial Inclusion and Islamic Finance based on the IFSB’s recent Standard, Technical Note 3 (TN-3) on 21 April 2020 at 4.30pm (Malaysian Time). This is part of the workshop series that is aimed to create flexibility and enhance the participants understanding of the IFSB standards and guiding principles. TN-3 underscores the importance of financial inclusion, due to its intricate connection with economic growth, shared prosperity and poverty reduction. The IFSB invites all of its member organisations and market players to participate in this e-workshop on Financial Inclusion and Islamic Finance.
For more information on this and other FIS e-workshop series please visit https://www.ifsb.org/event_detail.php?e_id=427

Maybank Islamic’s move into branch banking in the Middle East aims to attract Gulf investors to Southeast Asia. The Malaysian bank opened its first overseas branch at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in February. Maybank Islamic deputy CEO Nor Shahrizan Sulaiman said the new Dubai branch would serve as a the bank’s gateway not just to the UAE but to the wider GCC. The bank pursues further growth in Singapore and Indonesia, which it sees as home markets outside of Malaysia. The international business expansion is not new, as it has always been one of the focus areas of Maybank Islamic from early on. Maybank Islamic was granted a full Islamic banking licence from the Dubai Financial Services Authority last July, allowing it to open the DIFC branch. It replaces Maybank Islamic’s office in Bahrain, which has closed down.

National Takaful Company Watania has announced positive financial results in 2019, as the company's net profit increased to 13.1 million UAE dirhams, compared to 9.4 million dirhams in 2018. The company launched many new initiatives in 2019 to boost its overall performance, most of these initiatives focused on enhancing the levels of customer service. A new digital platform was launched that allows one of the fastest quotations and policy issuance system for motor business in the UAE market. The Company was among the first ones in UAE to subscribe to Blockchain technology to manage the motor claims recovery process. Chairman Dr. Ali Saeed Bin Harmal Al Dhaheri is confident that once the corona crisis is over and businesses start to get back to normal, Watania will be in a good position to seize the advantage.

Making moral and religious investment decisions is right, but does not change the world. Shariah compliant screening of stock market investments enables investors to invest in accordance with their religious beliefs, but that is all it does. To combat the harm from alcohol, for example, requires other policies. Divestment campaigns do achieve one thing. That is to increase publicity about the issue concerned, whether that is climate change in the case of oil companies, or deaths from smoking in the case of tobacco companies. The ethical and religious reasons for divestment should not be ignored, since they matter to the individual shareholder. However ethical investors should not deceive themselves to believing that divestment will result in change in circumstances when it will not.

According to Moody's Investor Service, sukuk issuance will stabilise after growing for four consecutive years, supported by the deficit financing needs of some GCC sovereigns, amid weaker oil prices and higher sukuk refinancing. Moody's expects sukuk issuance of around $180bn in 2020, after a 36% rise in 2019 to $179bn. Global sovereign sukuk issuance increased by 31% to $119bn in 2019, from $91bn in 2018. Moody's noted that downside risks are rising in the short term because of the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, as prolonged market disruption could dissuade issuers from coming to market. Green sukuk will benefit from robust growth in institutional investor demand for environmental, social and governance (ESG) products, given the natural crossover of sustainable investing and Islamic finance.

According to Moody’s Investors Service, Islamic finance is poised to expand in 2020 and beyond, helped by growing use of Shariah-compliant products in the GCC region and Malaysia. Moody's vice president Nitish Bhojnagarwala expects sukuk issuance to remain stable at around $180 billion (Dh661bn) this year, and the takaful insurance market will see steady growth as insurance premiums pick up in newly-penetrated markets. However, downside risks are rising because of the coronavirus outbreak. Mergers between Islamic and conventional banks in the GCC will drive one-off increases in assets, as they did in 2019. Saudi Arabia will remain the world's largest Islamic banking market, while the sector will continue to expand rapidly in Malaysia.

From 12-20 March the European Foundation Centre (EFC) surveyed its membership to find out what measures they are taking in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. All respondents confirmed that their organisations have taken internal measures to protect staff, visitors, and the public. 70% of respondents said they were using “smart-working” methods to compensate for working from home. 79% of respondents said programmes will be harder to implement. There was a general interest in finding collaborative ways to fund and/or exchanging ideas, information and good practices. On 25 March the EFC and DAFNE jointly issued the European Philanthropy Statement on COVID-19, calling for a strong spirit of European solidarity in the face of the current adversity. The message is clear: philantropy as a sector must show a unified, coherent response to this current threat as well as those that lie ahead.

Impact investing activity in Asia has grown quickly, but it will be a challenge to maintain the pace of scaling due to the complex and widely heterogeneous landscape of the region. Crowdfunding has been identified as a potential solution to match the demands and risk appetite of investors to the needs of operators. A case study on Music Securities is used to highlight the key benefits and risks of such an impact investing model. Formulating appropriate and efficient policies and increasing awareness among investors will also be crucial in promoting impact investing activity.

Al Baraka Bank Tunisia recently announced its financial results for the year 2019. The results revealed that the bank has moved forward with a net income that increased by 256% and total assets by 20% compared to the end of 2018. The Bank’s financial statements for the year 2019 show that the total income amounted to 133 million Tunisian dinars ($48 million), up 29% compared to the same period last year. After deducting all operating expenses, net operating income went up 54% to 30 million Tunisian dinars (US$11 million). The Bank also increased its shareholders’ equity by 9% to 174 million Tunisian Dinars (USD 62 million) at the end of December 2019.

The spread of the corona virus will pressure Qatari banks' asset quality and funding volatility could recur. As Fitch does not expect any changes in the Qatari authorities' ability to provide timely support all Qatari banks have a Stable outlook. The consequences of the coronavirus and lower hydrocarbon revenues will weaken government capital spending, which will in turn affect the operating environment. Fitch now forecasts Qatar's real GDP growth at minus 2% in 2020, after an estimated 0.6% positive growth in 2019. Qatari banks have adequate capital buffers but an increase in problem loans could erode these buffers quickly.

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group has set-up a special Strategic Preparedness and Response Facility worth $730 million to mitigate the negative impact of the COVID -19 pandemic. The IsDB Group stated that its entities will support the private sector in responding to the crisis and to minimise its impact on SMEs to sustain economic development. Additionally, the Islamic Cooperation for Development (ICD) shall provide $250 million of emergency funding mainly in the form of medium to long-term financing instruments to help affected sectors. ICD will also be aiding the private healthcare industry of affected member-countries to meet surging need for services, equipment and medicine.

Leaders of the most powerful countries in the world will today come together in a virtual summit organized by the Saudi Arabia G20 presidency to tackle the accelerating coronavirus crisis. Among world leaders expected to participate in the meeting are US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The World Health Organization, the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are among the international organizations that will take part, as well as other development organizations. Saudi Arabia’s efforts at global coordination will continue after the virtual summit. Another forum of G20 finance ministers is planned for next month, as well as a virtual gathering of G20 health ministers.

Etiqa is contributing RM1mil for the purchase of ventilators through Mercy Malaysia’s Pandemic Fund to support strategic preparedness and response plan to the Covid-19 virus. This initiative will also help ensure all communities are well prepared, especially those with the weakest health systems. With the number of people infected with Covid-19 increasing in Malaysia, the number of ventilators available at designated hospitals will be insufficient to deal with the number of critical cases. Etiqa Insurance & Takaful Group CEO Kamaludin Ahmad feels obligated to help the country battle Covid-19 and hopes that this contribution will mean that no patient will have to be denied lifesaving care due to ventilator shortage.

The first batch of the much-needed medical supplies donated by the Jack Ma Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation has arrived in Pakistan. The shipment is part of the donation of medical supplies to 10 Asian countries announced on March 21. Collectively, the nations will receive a total of 1.8 million masks; kits for testing 210,000 people, 36,000 pieces of protective clothing, as well as essential medical equipment such as ventilators and forehead thermometers. Pakistan's Disaster Management Authority will transport and distribute the supplies throughout the country. The remainder of the donation is expected to reach Pakistan soon.