IslamicFinance.de

Companies in Bahrain and Bangladesh can choose now to use either conventional or Shariah-compliant banking products and services from HSBC. HSBC Amanah has launched a range of products and services to meet the banking needs of corporates in these countries.
Begining with this December, the following HSBC Amanah corporate banking products are available in Bahrain:
- Business accounts: Funds deposited are used only in a Shariah-compliant manner and customers get related facilities such as cheque books, debit cards and internet banking
- Investment solutions: Meets investors’ short-term investment needs in a Shariah-compliant manner
- Working capital finance solutions: Short to medium-term financing solutions for working capital and liquidity needs based on goods or commodity Murabaha concepts
- Trade finance solutions: Meet the importer's trade and finance requirements based on Murabaha

Central Bank of Oman (CBO) arranged a seminar on Islamic banking in collaboration with Ernst & Young, Bahrain.
Speakers at the seminar were worried that the growth prospects for the banking sector would increase by 20% over the next decade, especially since the Islamic banking system was less affected by the recent global financial crisis compared to conventional banks.
The seminar was attended by a large number of chief executives and officials of commercial banks operating in the Sultanate.

Jamal Hijres, Chief Executive Officer at Capinnova Investment Bank, has the strong belief that Bahrain will continue to be one of the leading financial centres in the region due to the efficient regulatory policies adopted by the sector.
He added that Bahrain has tremendously benefited from the solid foundations laid by the country’s efficient economic and financial policies outlined over the preceding years.

The takaful industry in Bahrain is rising because of the people that prefere Sharia-compliant insurance.
The insurance market in Bahrain includes 27 domestic insurance companies and 11 branches of foreign insurance companies covering both direct insurance and reinsurance.
Conventional insurance reported the highest contribution in total assets at the rate of 79pc.

Bahrain decided to end the three-month state of emergency and therefore the confidence in the island nation’s Islamic bonds is being restored.
The notes returned 4 percent this quarter, compared with 3.2 percent for sukuk in Dubai, 2.5 percent for Malaysia and 1.7 percent in Indonesia.
Yields on Bahrain sukuk climbed to 4.45 percent on March 15, the highest level in a year.

The London-based European Islamic Investment Bank (EIIB) is now focusing on the Islamic markets of the Middle East and Asia, changing the strategy used until now.
Part of the strategy is to relocate some of its key personnel from its London office to its representative office in Bahrain.

Maybank Islamic, Asia-Pacific's largest syariah lender, is going to expand its business in the Asean region and may offer Islamic stockbroking services through Singapore stockbroker Kim Eng, which its parent recently acquired.
The bank's parent Maybank is embarking on an expansion drive to become a regional bank. It operates in 14 countries including Cambodia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bahrain.

Gulf Arab states is planing to have a single Shariah board for the region’s Islamic financial institutions in five to 10 years. A “supreme Shariah council” will help reduce the cost of issuing sukuk and boost Islamic services offered by financial institutions that comply with the religion’s ban on interest.
Hussain Hamed Hassan, head of Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC (DIB)’s Shariah committee, criticized central banks for treating Shariah- compliant financial institutions as if they were non-Islamic companies. He added that only a few central banks were exceptions, including those in Bahrain and Sudan.

Because of their losses and after political unrest in the Arabian Gulf nation, Moody’s Investors Service cut off Bahrain Islamic Bank's credit ratings.
Moody's statement was that the decision "reflects a material weakening in the institution’s stand-alone financial profile, as shown in the significant losses it posted in the last two years and the erosion of its capital base in the absence of new capital injections".

In the path of rebuilding its once dominant financial services sector, Ireland aims to become the home of Islamic finance in Europe.
The taoiseach, Enda Kenny, stated that the Irish tax laws and financial regulations are now sharia-compliant. It seems that the government had recently signed double-taxation agreements with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

At this year's Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) annual conference came 400 delegates from more than 20 countries from as far afield as South Africa, North Africa, Asia and Europe.
Despite the recent unrest in the kingdom, the conference wasn't affected, it was a big success. The conference closed at the Gulf Hotel and AAOIFI will now carry out training workshops in Bahrain until Friday.

Last week Dubai’s Islamic bonds had the smallest results in six months.
The rate fell to a record low of 4.6 percent on May 19. The average yield of Gulf sukuk was unchanged last week at 4.55 percent altough the yields on Bahrain’s government bond dropped. It couldn't have been a more poorly moment because the investors reckoned on the Emirates as being a safe area.

Bahrain has inovated the modern Islamic finance industry in the region, as its history on Islamic finance goes back to more than 40 years.
Khalid Hamad, Executive Director of Banking Supervision at the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), that their was to introduce new concepts and to formulate rules and standards for Shariah-compliant financial transactions.
Khalid Hamad, while commenting on the AAOIFI Annual Shariah Conference which opens on Monday in Bahrain, undelined the fact that the CBB has always been supporting AAOIFI and its conference as part of its commitment to the industry.

Barwa Bank and National Petroleum Services Group (NPS) made an agreement to refinance an existing syndication and support its expansion and working capital. All this will be worth QR529m.
NPS group provides drilling and well services to customers in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries in the Middle East, North Africa, Far East, and Europe.
Its state-of-the-art equipment and sectorial services are embracing Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Syria, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Libya, and Iraq.

Al Baraka Banking Group announced an increase of 11% in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the net income achieved in the first quarter of 2010. Total assets increased by 3%, total financing and investments by 1%, deposits including equity of investment accountholders by 2% as at the end of March 2011 as compared with the end of December 2010.
Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, Chairman of Al Baraka Banking Group, stated that the operations of banks were affected because a number of Arab countries have witnessed during the first quarter of 2011 large political and social shifts that have had temporary implications on the environment of the banking sector in those countries.

Mr. Oscar Silva was appointed Chief Executive Officer by Global Banking Corporation (GBCORP).
Before GBCORP, Mr. Silva worked with some of the leading banks in the region and also worked in international financial institutions in Toronto, New York, Tokyo and London.

Rasheed Al Maraj, Bahrain's central bank governor, stated that enders in the country have survived the 2008 financial crisis and the recent political unrest.
Although the first quarter brought a downside of 1.5%, the previous quarter was still up 8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Demand for the Kingdom of Bahrain sovereign debt, which the Central Bank manages on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, are still at low levels.
Demand for debt with longer maturities remained strong. The CBB was capable o issue 12 month Government Treasury Bills at a coverage of 211%.

The CEOs of Bahrain's major foreign banks are supporting the Kingdom's economic development. They stated that they will work with their peers to raise growth.
This statement was brought up when the CEOs met with Economic Development Board CEO Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa at a roundtable discussion organized by the Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB). The aim of the meeting entitled "outlook of the foreign banks in Bahrain" was to help the industry in disseminating the message to the public as well to the government about the current situation.

First Bahrain announced that it still captivates overseas companies to set up business in Bahrain. Switz Group chose Majaal warehousing and logistics complex for its location to serve the expansion of their subsidiary brand, named Bahrain Masterbaker WLL.
They will import products such as the ever-popular cup cakes, pastries and samosa leaves from their Saudi Masterbaker operation in Saudi Arabia.
Another subsidiary, named Masterbaker Trading WLL, is also being setup in the same facility but it will import bakery ingredients from Europe and USA.