IslamicFinance.de

According to the Raja Muda of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail Sunday, private corporations should seize the opportunity to be creative in performing their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), thus enhancing the future of their companies as well as their current reputation. At the CSR charity sale, which was organized by Malaysia Industrial Development Finance Berhad (MIDF), he said that he was certain of the growth of popularity of the company through this event. The charity sale was made possible in collaboration with the Perlis Islamic Religious Affairs and Malay Customs Council.

Dear Reader,

The German language book on Islamic finance by the Editor of IslamicFinance.de and Dr Wackerbeck from Booz Consultants is now translated to Chinese.

Please find the biographical information below:

Authors: Michael Gassner / Philipp Wackerbeck
Title: Islamic Finance – Islam-gerechte Finanzanlagen und
Finanzierungen
ISBN number: 978-7-5139-0217-5
PUBLISHER: Beijing - Democracy and Construction Press
Pre-Publication Date: 2012.7

Full biographical details: http://db.lib.bua.edu.cn/asord/asorditem.php?asord_marc_no=0001344540

Orders: http://www.amazon.cn/%E4%BC%8A%E6%96%AF%E5%85%B0%E9%87%91%E8%9E%8D-%E7%B...

Book review about the German language original: http://www.rpi-virtuell.net/workspace/24686AD5-936C-476D-9EA0-65E2968590...

Best regards,

Michael Gassner

IslamicFinance.de offers an overview about new job openings of October 2012 herewith - firms aiming to be included please send a job profile/hyperlink to newsdesk@islamicfinance.de - the full details of the advert has to be accessed by the hyperlink below the brief description:

Product Manager, Islamic Banking

Standard Chartered Bank - United Arab Emirates-SCB (United Arab Emirates)
Job Description
?Development of Islamic wealth products across CBMS, insurance and investment streams to create customer value proposition.
?Ensure successful implementation of the Islamic banking strategy across high value segment.
?Concentrated responsibility to work with the Priority/Wealth/Private/SME product/frontline teams and support functions to build on the current Islamic banking capabilities and to create seamless customer experience
?Act as a product specialist for RMs on client meetings to introduce and explain the Saadiq solutions to meet their needs
?Financial budgeting and business forecast. Evaluation of financial performance.

Palestinian insurance company Al-Takaful registered net profit before taxes as high as $586,503 for the first nine months of the year. This is a 237% increase compared to the same period last year, when the net profit before taxes reached only $174,024. Al-Takaful's total assets reached $19,186,332 by the end of September this year - 8.8% more than for the whole of 2011. The total liabilities show an increase of 13.2% from $9,176,092 last year to $10,389,322 this year.

Read more on: http://www.cpifinancial.net/news/post/16473/al-takaful-palestinian-insur...

Islamic mortgage provider Tamweel registered a drop in the profit during the third quarter of the year. The drop is as high as 46,5%, which misses the forecasts of analysts by far. The 8.4 million dirhams ($2.3 million) net profit in Q3 of 2012 contrasts with 15.7 million dirhams in the same period last year. The forcasts by Arqaam Capital and EFG Hermes lied at a profit of 22 million dirhams.

Read more on: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/22/emirates-tamweel-results-idUSL...

Property giant Limitless has made a deal to to restructure $1.2bn (Dh4.4bn) of Shari’ah compliant debt with its lenders. The syndicate was established in 2008 and was originally due in 2010. Because of the restructuring, the company's ownership will be transferred to the government of Dubai. Limitless has set to repay all its creditors by 2016.

Read more on: http://www.theislamicglobe.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article...

Due to relative stability in a volatile region, Dubai has quickly become role model for its neighbour countries. Appealing opportunities for foreign companies as well as for individual investors are offered. The next step for Dubai's development is Corporate Social Responsibility (“CRS”). Nonetheless, the implementation of CRS activities has stumbled upon several obstacles including cultural, religious and reactionary to global forces.

Barclays Bank of Kenya Ltd. announced the beginning of Shariah-compliant asset-finance product offer for corporates companies. This way it attempts to meet the growing demand of those companies. Barclays set aside $30 million for the so-called Corporate La Riba Asset Finance product. The latter includes fixed pricing and repayment periods of up to five years.

Read more on: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-16/barclays-kenya-to-offer-shariah...

Qatari Barwa Bank has launched a new Islamic product which is to support SMEs - Qotof. This is a suite of financial packages which serves to assist local corporations to achieve their business objectives and, at the same time, to save money. Until now, the products included in the package had been sold separately. By putting the m together in one product, the costs can be held lower and encourage businesses to take advantage of the offer.

Read more on: http://www.cpifinancial.net/news/post/16260/barwa-bank-launches-new-isla...

In order to exit bankruptcy, Arcapita has designed a long-term business plan which is to be combined with a previously approved incentive plan with employees. According to the latter plan, terminated employees and such, who remained with the company through November, will have the opportunity to settle the amounts they owed Arcapita from an incentive plan that allowed them to co-invest with Arcapita in portfolio companies. The incentive was made possible by an affiliate of Arcapita which loans the company money in order for Arcapita to invest in its deals.

More on: http://www.theislamicglobe.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article...

Boeing Capital Corporation pointed out that strategical investment into new aircraft is necessary. Also, the growth of Islamic financing’s position in commercial airplane deliveries shows its results. Due to their mobile nature and asset attractiveness, airplanes are considered ideal for lending under Shariah law. During the last two years, numerous financial institutions and airlines in the Middle East havelargly increased their investments in new Boeing commercial airplanes. Thus, they were able to realize substantial rewards for their investors because of the growing demand.

More on: http://www.traveldailymedia.com/138359/aircraft-investment-islamic-finan...

The Savola Group will be host to the second meeting of the GCC "Board Directors Institute" (BDI) GCC Roadshow programme in Riyadh. The leading topic of the event is the importance of corporate governance and the effectiveness of Board of directors, which kicked off in May in Manama, Bahrain. The purpose of the roadshow is to promote healthy communication among BDI members in order to to share ideas and best practices.

More on: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-savola-group-hosts-the-second-bdi-m...

Mushtak Parker gave an interview on a series of topics, among wich the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM), education in Islamic finance, moving the industry to US$2 trillion (RM6.22 trillion), scholars on multiple boards, and the late Dr Zaki Badawi. Parker expressed his opinion that even though the establishment and goals of IILM are highly commendable, it lacks transparency. This leads to problems in its process of its conception and imediate operation. He fears that IILM will not adress liquidity management leaving thus the gap open.

Syarikat Takaful's profit soars to RM22.58mil. This is mainly due to higher sales generated by family products and improved investment income. The company's outlook for the current year is encouraging despite increasing competition on the market.

According to a Saudi study, nearly 98 per cent of the companies operating in Gulf oil producers are held by families. This means that they could collapse unless they are turned into joint stock companies. The study, authored by Saleh al Sarei, a member of the trade panel at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that although some of the GCC companies were successful, they were suffering from a high degree of courtesy, which was affecting their performance.

Today is the start date of the new Islamic Equity Index. It debuts on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and aims to contribute to the expansion of the Nigerian market. NSE's management has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lotus Capital Limited, according to which the “NSE Lotus Islamic Index” (with the code NSE LII) will be compliant with the principles of Shari’ah.

Dar Assafaa a branch of Attijariwafa Bank is currently the sole Islamic finance provider in Morocco, despite strong local deman of about 94 % as stated by a study of Islamic Finance Advisory & Assurance Services (IFAAS) in 2012. In 2010 VAT tax regulation has been amended to allow for Murabaha offers. Still dedicated Islamic banking regulation is seen as pre-requisite to offer.

Dear Reader,

IslamicFinance.de is privately funded for many years. Now, for the first time, you have the possibility to make a contribution, from one Dollar upwards!

The technical details, and the money transfer via paypal is organised by Kapipal a new online fundraising tool:

http://www.kapipal.com/islamicfinance

On the blog I gave some more thoughts about Islamic finance media for those interested: http://www.islamicfinance.de/?q=node/3454

Please also note: The fundraising action has a deadline, so act today, not tomorrow and tell your friends about it!

All donors who will leave a message will be listed in the article, which follows after closure of the fundraising period.

I am happy to meet you in person either on 19th March in Milano (http://www.islamicfinance.de/?q=node/3396) or on 10th May in Frankfurt (http://www.islamicfinance.de/?q=BAFINII) at the respective Islamic finance conference.

Wa at Taufiq min Allah, all the best,

Michael Saleh Gassner

Dear Readers,

Islamic finance media are a tricky service. This is true for various reasons: The Internet eats up the revenues, because everything ought to be free. Islamic banks are still a niche phenomena, and international banks like UBS or Deutsche are almost as large as the entire global Islamic finance industry. Consequently the marketing budgets are much lower, too.

Last not least, who should advertise? The banks among themselves or to the clients? Advertising from bank to bank, does usually not make much sense, but real client oriented formats are hard to find, too. May be this is a niche. Others, who could finance Islamic finance media are basically the service providers to the banks, but due to the limited number of Islamic financial insitutions, direct marketing, e.g. face to face meetings will be preferred.

This in short is the background why Islamic finance media are not so well established in terms of journalism and research, but mostly reflecting the press release as criticised by the makers of the Islamic Globe. See: http://www.theislamicglobe.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article...

The 2nd Quarter 2011 issue of the Malaysian ICM quarterly bulletin published by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is now available online at:
http://www.sc.com.my/eng/html/icm/11_2Q_msianicm.pdf