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The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group hosted the IDB Group Private Sector Forum in Indonesia. The event was held in conjunction with Group's 41st Annual General Meeting. The forum involved panel discussions which deliberated on the activities, roles and support that have been carried out in member countries, with focus on Indonesia. The panel also touched on issues related to Islamic trade financing, investment challenges and export credit insurance. All private sector entities are open to coordinate with investors who are willing to invest in Indonesia as well as other member countries of the IDB Group.

Sri Lanka could issue Sukuk and take the lead in becoming a regional centre for Islamic financial services. Bar Association President Shibly Aziz said this can open Sri Lanka to a new niche of investors, rather than the conventional ones. Sri Lanka already has more than twenty years experience in Islamic finance with an approved Islamic bank in operations.

Indonesia has become one of the leading sukuk issuers in the world, with issuance totaling Rp 503 trillion (US$38 bn) since its debut in 2008. Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said total outstanding sukuk was at Rp 380 trillion ($29 bn), which accounts for 15% of total government securities. He added that the latest dollar sukuk, issued in March, received a very good response from investors. For the $2.5 bn issuance, total subscription reached $8.6 bn or around 3.5 times.

A venture capital fund based on Islamic finance principles will be initiated by the end of May. It is the result of a joint initiative of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and Malaysia’s state-owned investment firm Malaysia Venture Capital Management. According to Treasury secretary Irwan Serigar Abdullah the initial fund size would be $100mn and could be bulked up later. In the first stages, the venture capital fund would be utilised to finance startup companies in Malaysia and the entire Southeast Asia region and could later be extended to finance entrepreneurial initiatives in other Islamic countries.

Guyana officially became the 57th member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) during the opening ceremony of the bank’s annual meeting in Jakarta. According to the finance ministry press release, this membership allows Guyana access to concessionary resources, grants and interest free loans. Finance minister of Guyana, Winston Jordan, is making his debut appearance in Jakarta personally to witness Guyana’s initiation into the group. Suriname, which is also a member of the Islamic Bank, is represented by its Finance Minister Gilmore Hoefdraad and Deputy Governor, Dr Anwar Lall Mohamed. The private sector is expanding economic ties between Indonesia and Suriname and, with the support of the Islamic Bank, rhetoric is becoming reality.

The seminar 'The Transformation of the Islamic Finance Industry in Indonesia' was held by the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) in collaboration with Financial Services Authority (OJK). President Joko Widodo’s has repeatedly called for the revival of growth in Indonesia’s Islamic finance industry, which is currently being hindered by fragmented regulations. Through this seminar, ICD and OJK aimed to impart the know-how related to the implementation of Shari’ah standards.

The issue of sustainable development goals (SDGs) was discussed intensely at the annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Jakarta. Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said many aspects of the SDGs were covered by Islamic finance, arguing that most customers served by Islamic micro-finance were poor people who were not in the banking system. Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo added the size of Islamic finance is still very small, representing only 1% of total global finance.

Brunei's efforts to expand the scope of the financial sector are aimed at ensuring a greater diversity of public and private sector financing. In April Brunei Darussalam issued two sukuk worth a combined $150m. The first, a $50m bond with a rental rate of 1.03%, has a one-year maturity, while the second offering, a $100m sukuk with a rental rate of 0.78%, will mature in July. In the period from 2001 to 2015 Brunei Darussalam offered 119 short-term sukuk, equivalent to 2.32% of the global market by value. The Sultanate stands alongside Indonesia and Malaysia as major issuers of Islamic financial instruments in the region and is poised to play a growing role in the issuance of sukuk in coming years.

The Islamic Development Bank's annual meeting was held on Monday in Jakarta, Indonesia. At the meeting Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said sukuk played a significant role in promoting resilient infrastructure and sustainable economic development, and therefore should be boosted in the future. Indonesia has been active in sukuk markets since 2007. This year, Rp 110.9 trillion (US$ 8.33 bn) in sukuk was issued in the domestic and international markets, according to ministry data.

On May 15 representatives of 56 muslim countries came together at the 41st IDB annual meeting in Jakarta. In 2015, the IDB Group recorded approvals worth $1.83 bn, representing 21% of the total since the bank’s inception. In Turkey Islamic banking comprises 5% of the total banking system, but the government aims to increase this figure to 15% by 2023. IDB's president, Ahmad Mohamed Ali, said the bank also fully supported Turkey’s plans to develop Istanbul as an international financial center.

#Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund (EPF) announced plans to divest its stakes in tobacco businesses and focus on investing in assets deemed socially and environmentally responsible. CEO Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said EPF plans to dispose of its stake in British American Tobacco (Malaysia), despite not outlining a specific timeframe for the move. The first fully shariah-compliant fund (EPF-i) is planned to launch in January 2017 with an initial fund size of between 80 and 100 bin ringgit. Preparing for the launch of the EPF-i, the fund had increased its exposure to shariah-compliant investments covering multi-asset classes to about 40% of total investments.

The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) is organizing a seminar to discuss the role of Islamic microfinance in poverty alleviation on 14-15 May 2016 in Bogor, Indonesia. IRTI is organizing the event in conjunction with the 41st Annual Meeting of the IDB Group. The event features the launching of the Islamic Microfinance for Poverty Alleviation and Capacity Transfer (IMPACT) Program, which aims to disseminate the best practices in Islamic microfinance.

In #Malaysia the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) expects 1.5 mn to 2 mn members to convert their contributions to the syariah-compliant fund in the first year of implementation. CEO Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said 71% of the members agreed on the need for the Islamic pension scheme called Simpanan Shariah. Simpanan Shariah’s initial fund size will be RM120 bn. EPF is in the process of classifying its assets as syariah-compliant and conventional, with about 40% of its assets now fully syariah-compliant.

Singapore charged a former wealth manager at Swiss private bank with forgery as part of a money laundering investigation related to 1Malaysia Development. The forgery charge is the seventh filed against Yeo Jiawei, a 33-year-old Singaporean banker. While the charges didn't mention 1MDB by name, they stem from investigations into the fund's money flows. The prosecutors charged Yeo with "fraudulently" signing a reference letter to the head of anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance of Citigroup Inc in Europe.

OCBC Malaysia head of consumer financial services Lim Wyson said increasing the number of products under the Islamic asset class will appeal to a broader range of investors. The size of Malaysia’s Islamic capital market had more than tripled over the last 10 years, with an average growth of 11.7% per annum and accounted 60% of the entire capital market in the country.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will elect a new president next week in Jakarta, replacing long-serving president Ahmad Mohamed Ali. Saudi Arabia, the IDB's largest shareholder, has nominated Bandar Hajjar for the post. His candidacy was also endorsed by the outgoing IDB president. The new president will have big shoes to fill: Mr Ali tripled the bank's authorised capital to US$150 bn in 2013 and last year up-sized its sukuk issuance programme to US$25 bn.

RHB Islamic International Asset Management is favoring the sovereign and corporate debt in maturities of 7 to 10 years. CEO Sharizad Jumaat said the company sees limited currency weakness in 2016 and expects the key central bank rate to remain unchanged. Sharizad said the ringgit will be quite stable within the weak environment of slower growth in China and Europe.

Turkey wants to set up a new Islamic megabank. Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said the prime shareholders would be Turkey's Treasury and the Islamic Development Bank. Simsek prepares for talks with Indonesia in Jakarta next week on proposals to start a Shariah-compliant megabank that will lend to companies and infrastructure projects. Indonesia and Malaysia have long tried separately to establish a Shariah-compliant lender but faced obstacles until now. Turkey is ready to commit more than $300 mn for the lender as capital.

Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim called on the Islamic finance sector to embrace the financial technological revolution. Technologically-driven applications have spread to every segment of the financial sector, with the number of fintech start-ups having doubled in one year. He noted that the potential impact can be significant, with 10 to 40 % banking revenue possibly at risk by 2025 due to fintech innovations outside banking institutions that are able to offer significant pricing advantage. Bank Negara is reviewing the changes needed to its regulatory framework to ensure that it remains appropriate to manage the risk while encouraging productive innovation.

The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) sees a potential for an increase of sukuk funding in 2016 in line with regulatory reforms in the industry such as Basel III and Guidance Note 6 (GN-6). Secretary-General Jaseem Ahmed said sovereign sukuk sector might gain momentum this year on the back of increased budget deficits, particularly in the energy-exporting countries. He added that Islamic banking assets showed a positive association with oil revenues while the liquidity and profitability of Islamic banks might be adversely affected by low oil prices.