IslamicFinance.de

Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House has become entangled in a dispute with a former executive at its Dubai-based private equity unit who the company alleges falsified invoices to siphon almost $5 million into bank accounts controlled by him. David Haigh, who was the deputy chief executive of GFH Capital until resigning this March, was arrested shortly after he arrived in Dubai about a month ago and has been in detention since. Legal authorities in Dubai are weighing criminal charges, according to an emailed statement from GFH, while the company has also filed a civil suit against him in the Dubai International Financial Centre. Mr. Haigh denied the GFH allegations.

Willis Group Holdings P.L.C. is set to offer sharia-compliant commercial real estate coverage in the United Kingdom. The coverage will be offered through the Islamic insurance platform developed by Cobalt Underwriting Services Ltd. The policy retains price neutrality, meaning premiums are equivalent to those in a conventional insurance policy. In March, Cobalt Underwriting added QBE Insurance Ltd.'s European division to its platform.

The UK government's decision not to choose a local Islamic bank as an arranger for its sukuk is a lost opportunity to promote the homegrown Islamic finance industry, according to Harris Irfan, of European Islamic Investment Bank. Malaysia’s CIMB, Qatar’s Barwa, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Standard Chartered and HSBC have been chosen to lead the sale.

Insurance broker Willis Group Holdings will offer sharia-compliant commercial real estate coverage in Britain for the first time. New York-listed Willis will offer the coverage through the Islamic insurance platform developed by London-based Cobalt Underwriting. The policy retains price neutrality, meaning premiums are equivalent to those in a conventional insurance policy. Cobalt's platform uses a syndication model to help spread risk across a panel of underwriters, allowing multiple insurers to pool their capacity while each can subscribe to their desired level of risk though individual Islamic windows. The risk is priced by a lead insurer and other firms must then subscribe under similar terms.

Turkey's Kuveyt Turk, owned by Kuwait Finance House, mandated banks for a sukuk issue. The bank has mandated KFH Investment as global coordinator and Citi, Emirates NBD Capital, HSBC, KFH Investment and Standard Chartered Bank as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners.

Asya Katilim Bankasi AS (ASYAB), the Turkish banks in talks to sell a stake to Qatar Islamic Bank, has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS:US) as exclusive financial adviser on the deal. The Istanbul-based lender said in March that it was in exclusive talks with QIB for a strategic partnership, while the Doha-based bank said it was interested to take a stake in the lender. Bank Asya, in today’s filing, didn’t give more details. Bank Asya fell 2.9 percent to 1.66 liras at 10:35 a.m. in Istanbul. It’s gained about 14 percent this year.

The Turkish Bank Asya’s board gave its management the go ahead to possibly sell the banks subsidiaries. This information was given Istanbul Stock Exchange and a rise of 5.4 percent in Asya share followed the news.

An Iranian trial and execution raised questions about corruption at high levels in various countries. Reports said that Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, a billionaire businessman was executed in a prison, North of Tehran for being involved in a $2.6 billion state bank scam, the largest fraud case since 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. The public in America, Britain and other European countries reacted with surprisingly many comments on social media platform. They wish such a harsh punishment for their nations in order to deal with corruption amongst politician and businessmen.

Such is the hype of activity about Shari’a-compliant product at the moment that even The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has now moved a step closer towards the issuance of a debut sukuk. The government presented a draft bill to parliament that could get deal going, proposing the issuance of a €200m-equivalent sovereign sukuk denominated. Euros or US-Dollars, both are welcome. Additionally, the Luxembourg government has also identified three real estate assets to underpin the transaction.

Richard Clare has been appointed as new Lending Manager at Saffron Building Society. He will take responsibility for assessment and preparation of mortgage cases as the underwriting capability.
Besides their rainge of Everyday and Special Situations Mortgages, Saffron Building Society will also consider more complex cases which are in need for bespoke lending solutions.
Richard Clare has more than 20 years of experience in financial services gained with organizations including UBS, Coutts, Ahli United Bank, United Trust Bank, Clayton Euro Risk, Pure Bridging Ltd, Rooftop Mortgages, SPML and Halifax plc. His considerable experience is as a senior lending manager.

Shari’a-compliant launches from UK based managers are growing steadily. The UK is at the forefront of Muslim investment. Even crowdfunding is becoming increasingly acceptable in the Arab world to raise capital for start-ups. But investments of any nature have to be Shari’a-compliant. Hereby Muslim communities from Bangladesh or Indonesia may differ from Arabs or Iranians. Some national governments, like Pakistan, insist on full Shari’a financing whereas others like Dubai or Bahrain have a less stringent approach to this. A lot of Shari’a money is completely untapped and is waiting on bank accounts. Most conventional products are not able to access this money due to non-Shari’a compliance.

The Halal-industry Expo will be the largest in Russia and Eastern Europe and will take place from 5 – 8 June, 2014. The Russian Muftis Council is organizer of the exhibition. The Expo will probably bring more than 200 companies together from all over the world. With Muslim numbers increasing there is a definite growing demand for Halal products and services. These are not only popular among Muslims. Halal products are well known for their quality. Besides that, sphere of Halal services bases on a mutual respect and honest cooperation. The Moscow International Halal Exhibition is a major event in the industry and a platform for experts and businesses.

The European Union on Thursday lifted sanctions on the Syria International Islamic Bank and businessman Sulieman Maarouf with ties to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who lives in London. The moves came as part of a decision to extend the Syria sanctions on nearly all targets for another year, until June 1, 2015. A European diplomat said the decision to lift sanctions against the bank was taken because of a lack of strong evidence linking it to Mr. al-Assad's regime. The Syrian International Islamic bank was placed on the list because the EU alleged it facilitated transactions for the Commercial Bank of Syria and the Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank. The list now includes 179 people and 53 entities that the EU says are "linked" to violent repression by Mr. al-Assad's regime.

Dear Reader,

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of IslamicFinance.de please find at the hyperlink below the relaunch of the newsletter.

http://www.islamicfinance.de/files/20140529%20IslamicFinance%20dot%20de%...

Any new issues will be announced to our registered users of IslamicFinance.de and to the members of the related LinkedIn Group of IslamicFinance.de.

If you wish to register please go to http://www.islamicfinance.de/?q=newsletter/subscriptions or become member of the LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostRecent=&gid=147616&trk=my_groups-tile...

Enjoy reading! And if you do, please consider sharing the free newsletter with your friends & colleagues by forwarding or subscribing an internal email address to forward it your entire firm.

NB: I appreciate feedback to improve the content and better understand what readers are looking for. Please allow time for reply, which I may not be able to give to all enquiries after sending out the newsletter.

All the best,

Michael Saleh Gassner

QInvest sees Turkey as being a key driver is Islamic finance growth worldwide and will be exploring the opportunity at the 9th Turkish-Arab Economic Forum, takingplace in Istanbul on 28th and 29th May 2014. QInvest has an office in Istanbul and offers cross-border services to clients from its presence in Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.The bank has been involved in a number of high profile sukuk issuances in Turkey. Besides, QInvesthas also been active in other areas of Islamic finance in the country, including Murabaha, and mezzanine and equity finance. The Bank is active in the Turkish asset management industry and is in talks with a leading portfolio management company to advise on sharia'a-compliant asset management.

This Seminar on Wednesday, 18 June, is within a series of International seminars, workshops and dialogues the Academy of Philanthropy is organising around the world. This particular Seminar is held in Geneva for the benefit of private philanthropists, financiers, UN system, NGOs, as well as regular visitors to the region from the Muslim world.

The Seminar is intended as an attempt to bridge the gap between venture and institutional philanthropists on one hand and recipient countries and NGOs on the other, with the aim to discuss and learn how to leverage impact and sustainable development. The Seminar is forward-looking in light of global events, such as the post-2015 development agenda and the shifting landscape of development and philanthropy.

Session outcomes

1. Raise awareness on the roles of stakeholders in philanthropy and sustainable development at global, regional and country levels, namely: private sector, institutional donors/development agencies, venture philanthropy, and civil society.

RAM Ratings has assigned AA3/Stable/P1 financial institution ratings to Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi AS (the Group). RAM moreover assigned an AA3/Stable rating to the proposed RM3.0 billion Sukuk Murabahah MTN Programme to be issued by the Group's wholly owned asset leasing subsidiary, TF Varlik Kiralama AS. The assigned ratings reflect a high likelihood of extraordinary support from the Group's major shareholder, The National Commercial Bank (NCB). Turkiye Finans enjoys sound earnings which support its capital position. Although its asset-quality indicators are healthy, they may weaken amid Turkey's more challenging economic and political backdrops. On the other hand, Turkiye Finans' ratings are constrained by its limited domestic franchise and relatively weak funding position.

Henry Thompson will take over the role of London-based Gatehouse Bank's new boss with immediate effect. He substitutes current chairman and chief executive Fahed Faisal Boodai, who will remain in his role as executive chairman. Thompson had been working in Shariah-compliant finance at Arcapita as head of legal before. Gatehouse, which offers investment banking services, has been aiming to get a foothold in London’s wealth management sector and recently opened a new office in Mayfair. Boodai said Thompson brings with him sector knowledge, which complements the activities of Gatehouse Bank.

Religious investors, in economic terms the third largest group to invest on the world’s stock markets, can post high placement profits and remain faithful to their religious creed. This is the message of the third biennial world report on religious investors, the only report of its kind.

The report highlights the profile of religious investors who respect this balance and thus can have a major influence on company ethics:
- Their principles of faith can serve as a road map for investment choices;
- By nature, these investors have a long-term view which is key to the notion of responsible investment;
- They can call on the support of what is often a worldwide community;
- They have set up networks that offer the chance to work together on stakeholder actions and therefore increase their impact.

Even though a certain number of religious organisations invest responsibly and use their role as shareholder-activists to promote change this sort of profile is far from the majority.

The Sukuk has been assigned an investment grade credit rating of BBB- by Fitch and is being issued in amortizing tranches, each with a term of five years, and an average life of approximately 2.5 years. Distributions will be made quarterly to investors on a fully amortising basis, with a profit rate of seven per cent per annum. The first tranche of the program, for $20 million closed in October 2013, and was oversubscribed. The transaction was structured to fund the operations of one of FWU’s five main subsidiaries, Atlanticlux Lebensversicherung S.A. (ATL), Luxembourg. The lead arranger and bookrunner for this issuance, EIIB-Rasmala, comprises the AIM-listed European Islamic Investment Bank Plc and Rasmala Group.