IslamicFinance.de

The shift in global banking is not a trend, and the challenge for all of us is to bridge the gap in financial practice and seize the opportunities that lie ahead, bringing ethics back into finance.

Thomson Reuters and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) are partnering to launch the world’s first Ethical Finance Innovation Challenge and Awards (EFICA). In the dawn of a new economic world, these awards are designed to inspire and recognise a fresh way of thinking by promoting some of the most dynamic, innovative ideas and solutions around integrity and growth.

The Hamas government relies heavily on the taxes and tariffs imposed on goods flowing through the crossings with Israel and the tunnels with Egypt to cover monthly costs and payments for governance. The Hamas government taxes the majority of the Egyptian products to raise revenue, while the taxes on the Israeli supplies, including basic goods, go to the government in Ramallah. Now, the supply of goods smuggled from Egypt through underground tunnels has nearly come to a halt, severely exacerbating the economic hardship already being suffered by the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip. Tax receipts from goods entering through the tunnels account for about 40% of the government's general revenue. Thus, as a result of the tunnel closures, the government has been forced to borrow from the National Islamic Bank in Gaza to pay the salaries of local staff.

Exeter-headquartered crowdfunding website Crowdcube is to launch in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region after forming a joint venture. Crowdcube MENA is led by a group of experienced bankers, entrepreneurs and asset managers with experience in US/Canada, Europe and the Middle East. Crowdcube MENA believes the region presents unique challenges. However, given the success of Crowdcube, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (previously FSA) in the UK, it is considered possible to leverage this experience of working under a Tier 1 global regulator to implement a successful business model to service the MENA región. According to Omar Rana, co-founder of Crowdcube MENA, various regions are currently examined to assess the best way of leveraging Crowdcube's platform to provide crowdfunding in the MENA region.

Job Description

A major International Islamic Bank is currently seeking a regional Chief Financial Officer for their operations in Lebanon and Qatar. This role will be primarily based in Beirut.
Skills

Requirements:

* 10+ Years Experience in Senior Finance Roles within Global Financial Institutions.

The Libyan Stock Market has signed a multi-faceted memorandum of understanding (MoU) with global Shariah advisory firm, Amanie Advisors, to help Libya’s efforts to expand the role of Islamic finance in its economy. The comprehensive MoU sets out a clear roadmap for research into the areas of growth for Islamic Finance within Libya, Islamic Finance training and a joint agreement on conducting market research that aims to devise the proper development model for Islamic Finance with Libya. Amanie will also provide Shariah consultancy services to the relevant authority with respect to drafting relevant guidelines and regulations for their major Islamic capital markets initiative. With training a key challenge for Islamic banks, Amanie will provide in-depth guidance and training to the relevant agencies within Libya.

Over the past three years, the Hult Prize has taken on some of the planet's toughest challenges. These have included Education, Energy, Housing, and Water. For the 2013 Prize, President Clinton has personally selected the challenge: the Global Food Crisis.

A detailed case study, narrated by President Bill Clinton, will be released to all selected participants in early January to set the framework for this year's challenge. Competitors will then be asked to develop social enterprises that answer the President's Challenge.

The global food crisis can be approached through multiple lenses, such as: distribution, manufacturing, production, technology and many others. Each, represents an opportunity for innovation. Nearly 1 Billion people in the World are Hungry, that is over 1 out of every 4 children. Ironically, our global economy produces enough food each year to feed everyone, however more than one-third of the food generated for human consumption continues to be lost or wasted.

Ahmed Al-Gabali, Technical Advisor for Islamic bonds at the finance ministry. temporarily left his post at the Ministry of Finance due to his conviction that not enough political and economic support currently exists to push Egypt’s Islamic bonds law. This, he said, will cause returns on any Islamic bonds that are issued to be significantly less than previously estimated. He stated that the fate of Egypt’s Islamic bonds law changed after the events of 30 June and the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi. He maintained, however, that Islamic bonds would remain a powerful finance tool in the future, since sukuk have existed in a number of countries that do not operate under an Islamist or a Brotherhood regime. Abdullah Al-Adali, chairman of the taxes division at Price Waterhouse Coopers, stated that he supported keeping the country’s Islamic bonds law as it was despite the removal of Morsi.

Islamic banking experts have called on the Central Bank of Egypt to tailor its policies regarding Islamic banking services to be more in line with those of Islamic banks themselves. The call came during the fourth annual conference of the Egyptian Islamic Finance Association, during which the association launched its index of shares compatible with Islamic law, measuring the performance of those shares traded on Egypt’s stock exchange by their compatibility with Sharia standards.Mustafa Ibrahim, forensic audit manager for the National Bank for Investment, said the index was unique in that it was founded upon Sharia standard number 21, released by the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions.

The Islamic Development Bank is considering a recent request by Egypt for $10 billion in funding for infrastructure development projects, to be provided over the next five years. On Monday, Egypt received a $300 million loan from the IDB to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation. The loan is part of a total $1 billion loan agreement signed by Egypt with the IDB in July of last year aimed at funding food and energy imports. Ahmed Mohamed Ali, head of the Islamic Development Bank Group reiterated the bank’s commitment to helping Egypt surmount its formidable economic challenges, having already granted it $6 billion in funds. Ali pledged to send an IDB team to Cairo to begin discussions on the requested $10 billion loan in September.

Tunisia's first issue of a sukuk is likely to be postponed to next year. Tunisia had originaly planned to issue a sovereign sukuk this July to raise $700 million. Thus, the government wanted to push through a legislation to permit the issue, and hoped parliament would approve the bill by end-April or early May. But so far, the parliament has not begun considering the legislation because it has been occupied drafting a new constitution that would permit elections expected later this year. Postponing the $700 million issue will increase pressure on the country's budget this year. Tunisia is running a large state budget deficit, which it has projected at about $3.2 billion this year, and the sukuk was intended to help fill that gap. Tunisia might have to use IMF funds to fill the gap left by the sukuk delay.

Profits of Lebanese banks operating in Syria in the first three months of 2013 fell by 98.2 percent to $640,000 from $49.8 million in the same period of 2012. That was compared to aggregate net losses of 489.5 million pounds in the fourth quarter of 2012. The aggregate shareholders’ equity of the seven banks reached 35.3 billion pounds, or $406.5 million, at end-March 2013, unchanged from end-2012. The banks’ total operating income reached 4.7 billion pounds in the first quarter of 2013, down 35.7 percent from 7.3 billion pounds in the same period last year. Lebanese banks in Syria have increased provisions for nonperforming loans, though they realize this will affect profits considerably. All of the Lebanese banks said they had no intention of withdrawing from the Syrian market now or in the future because they believed the situation would get back to normal eventually.

The Islamic Development Bank has proposed to buy Marocco's sukuk rather than offering the country another loan, according to General Affairs minister Mohamed Najib Boulif. However, the amount has not been set yet. Earlier this year, the Morocco agreed a $2.4 billion package with the IDB, under which it will receive $600 million each year from 2013 to 2016. It also raised $750 million last month in a two-part reopening of its $1.5 billion bond. The North African country is considering other financial reforms, such as that of the pension and tax systems. It will also deregulate prices for some basic goods in the next two weeks, its first step towards reducing subsidies. However, the timing has not been decided.

Tunisia has won $1.2 billion in funding from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), aimed at backing industrial, agricultural and trade projects. The IDB funding line will include loans and grants, and will be for three years, with disbursements of $400 million each year until 2015. The IDB has also given Tunisia a financial guarantee to issue a sukuk worth $600 million before 2014. Tunis is also in talks with Qatar about the Gulf state making a deposit at the Tunisian central bank with easy conditions. The assassination in February of opposition politician Chokri Belaid triggered the worst street violence since the revolution. Elections expected towards the end of this year will create fresh uncertainty. The state budget deficit is expected to rise to around 5.9 percent of gross domestic product this year from 5.1 percent last year.

Tunisia's fledgling Islamic finance industry could take a 25 to 40 percent share of the country's financial sector in five years' time if necessary rules, consumer education and private investment plans materialize, according to a Thomson Reuters study. Currently, sharia-compliant business accounts for just 2.5 percent of the Tunisian financial sector. The study estimates that Islamic financial assets in Tunisia could reach $17.8-$28.5 billion by 2018, up from $1.4 billion at present. Some industry practices that are controversial among some Islamic scholars, like tawarruq or commodity murabaha, are generally being avoided in Tunisia, the study found. One boost for Islamic finance in Tunisia would be issuance of the country's first sukuk, which the government is planning. Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has given Tunisia a financial guarantee to issue a sukuk worth $600 million. Last week, the IDB extended said it would extend $1.2 billion in funding to Tunisia for industrial, agricultural and trade projects.

Algeria hopes to stem high unemployment rates among its young population by promoting the development of micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs). Key to that effort, of course, is the provision of financial services. Therefore, the Algerian government set out to make a Sharia-compliant product available that is both affordable and scalable. In collaboration with several national and international institutions the Algerian Ministry for Industry, piloted one such product in the Ghardaia region of Algeria. Four years later, this musharaka product has provided new opportunities for 167 MSMEs. Given the success of this product, musharaka is now available through Al Baraka branches nationwide. The bank is also working with its nationwide branches to test other Sharia-compliant products, including, murabaha and qard hassan as well as Sharia-compliant micro-insurance products.

In Tunisia, the development of Islamic banking and Islamic insurance primarily depends on the introduction of a law that is more in line with market needs and expectations. Still, Mahfoudh Barouni, an expert in banking and finance, believes that the imperfections of the existing law have not so far hindered the smooth development of Islamic finance. In the past, there were already laws governing the sector that had been drafted according to market needs, but this legislation did not actually govern the Islamic finance sector. Currently, there are texts that legislate Islamic finance and grant all Tunisians the freedom to choose between Western and Islamic finance. Speaking on the topic of Islamic insurance, the CEO of Zitouna Takaful, Makram Ben Sassi, recalled that this business has existed in Tunisia for 30 years. Yet, the real problem is that there is a lack of awareness and responsibility rooted in the mentality of Tunisians in general.

Chairman of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Ahmed Mohamed Ali said that the group is expected to sign, on Thursday, a strategic co-operation agreement with Tunisia. This agreement will reportedly open new co-operation prospects between Tunisia and several African countries, to which Tunisia could provide assistance in several sectors, whether public or private. An IDB delegation will take part in "Tunisia's Forum on Investment," on June 13-14. Moreover, IDB expressed its will to strengthen relations with Zitouna Bank, the first Islamic bank in Tunisia. Besides, Mr. Mohamed Ali pointed out that IDB is ready to contribute to the support and funding of the micro enterprises' programme, as part of supporting Tunisia's efforts in fighting against poverty.

With strong support from a government dominated by the Ennahda party, Islamic finance has become an El Dorado of sorts for Tunisia’s financial establishments. And this despite the fact the constituent parliament hasn't yet adopted the least regulation for such operations which were taboo during the days of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. An affiliate of the state-owned Banque de l'Habitat (BH), Assurances Salim, is poised to break into the market for Islamic insurance and re-insurance. In the works since last year, the operation will lead to the creation of Attakafoulia, a limited liability company with an initial registered capital of €5 million.

ABOUT YPP:

The Young Professionals Program (YPP) is the strategic talent pipeline for the professional career in the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group. The Program is designed for outstanding young graduates who can significantly help the IDB Group to carry out its mission and attain its objectives.

This Program enables each Young Professional (YP) to receive extensive exposure and experience of the IDB Group’s various activities through job rotations in different departments. Participants will initially spend two weeks Orientation stage in HRMD. Then, 27 months in Foundation stage which will be split into three rotations of 9 months each in IDB Group departments.

Participants will also benefit from a coaching/mentoring arrangement and a wide range of relevant training and developmental opportunities.

Upon successful program completion, the participant will gradually climb up the professional grades in the IDB Group

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The Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) recently announced that it removed Iraq’s Elaf Islamic Bank from its Part 561 List. According to a 2012 New York Times article, Elaf had been named to the list because it had facilitated transactions worth millions of dollars with sanctioned Iranian banks and has objected to the Central Bank of Iraq’s allowing Elaf to continue to attend its U.S. dollar currency auctions. OFAC now says that Elaf has offered its mea culpa, frozen the accounts it holds for the Export Development Bank of Iran (“EDBI”) and begun reducing its overall exposure to the Iranian financial sector. The Elaf development appears to be a victory on paper as a non-U.S. person agreed to terms with the U.S. government over its dealings with Iran apparently occurring exclusively outside the United States. One can only wonder about how the United States will monitor Elaf’s frozen accounts or any of its future dealings with Iranian banks.