IslamicFinance.de

Islamic bond sales are off to a racing start this year as Malaysia plans to tap the market following Indonesia’s $2.5 billion issue, which was more than three times oversubscribed. Global sukuk offerings of $11.3 billion are already 30 per cent more than the first quarter of last year and are approaching the $12 billion for the same period of 2014. Malaysia reportedly selected JPMorgan Chase, CIMB Group, Malayan Banking and HSBC to arrange investor meetings for as early as the end of next week. In a sign of the demand that Malaysia’s government debt is attracting, a 4 billion ringgit ($998 million) sale of 10-year local-currency Islamic notes on Wednesday garnered a bid-to- cover ratio of 3.2 times.

The market share of Indonesia’s Islamic banks has remained low at less than 5 percent in the past several years despite efforts to promote sharia financial services to the mostly Muslim Indonesian population. Indonesians are still reluctant to open accounts or carry out transactions through sharia-compliant banks as they are mostly still unaware of the advantages of Islamic banking services, Islamic finance expert Irfan Syauqi Beik said. Another factor that has caused the sharia banks’ stagnant low market share is their weak financing capacity, he said. Moreover, most of the existing Islamic banks are undercapitalized so that they are unable to expand their business rapidly.

Perak’s Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah told Islamic financial scholars and ulama to “think futuristically” in order to be current with contemporary developments. He said they can act as “institutional game-changers” in helping Islamic finance grow, but must leave their “ivory towers” and become more involved in the industry. Sultan Nazrin added that no industry was immune to “social evolution”, making it necessary for these scholars to make the effort to produce relevant financial products. He also said that it was important to inform the public more on the role of Shariah advisors in finance as their endorsement of an institution meant that it complied with the Islamic beliefs.

The Republic of Indonesia swept through its funding target for the first half of 2016 on Monday with an upsized $2.5 billion sukuk issue. As a result of the split- and 10-year deal, the sovereign has now raised 64% of the $9.35 billion it is targeting from international markets in 2016, or 2% more than the 62% it was hoping to raise by the end of June. The Baa3/BBB-/BB+ rated credit has been one of the chief beneficiaries of the market’s strong momentum following the Fed's decision to slow the pace of interest rate rises last week. As a result, the order book for the sovereign’s 144a offering closed around the $8.5 billion mark, encouraging it to upsize the transaction by $500 million and press down on the new issue premium.

The Partnership Banking Center, Russia's first financial institution established upon Islamic banking principles will start operations in March 2016 in Kazan. The new bank will function as a subsidiary of Tatagroprombank. The Partnership Banking Center will work with both individuals and companies, and will aim to channel Islamic investment into Russia. It will also sign an agreement with the Islamic Development Bank. The bank’s creation became possible thanks to a new law submitted to the State Duma in late January, under which the Russian banking system can comply with requirements of religious financial institutions.

The FBI has agreed to help Bangladesh investigate an audacious $81 million theft from the nation's foreign reserves, authorities said Sunday, days after the finance minister accused central bank officials of complicity in the heist. A FBI official in Dhaka met with representatives from Bangladesh's Criminal Investigation Department and offered to assist with the investigation into the spectacular cross-country theft. Hackers stole the money from the Bangladesh Bank's account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on February 5 and managed to transfer it electronically to accounts in the Philippines. Investigators say local hackers were likely involved in the theft.

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) plans to launch the Islamic Fund and Wealth Management Blueprint by July to strengthen Malaysia’s competitive position in the global Islamic financial sector. SC chairman Datuk Seri Ranjit Ajit Singh said the SC was in the final stages of formulating the blueprint, which would be launched by the first half of the year and the action plan rolled out over five years. First announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at Invest Malaysia in April last year, the action plan aims to chart the medium- and long-term strategic direction for the industry as well as map out strategies to strengthen the country’s Islamic capital market.

The government’s joint effort with banking institutions to promote financial inclusion across the archipelago is facing a major hurdle as most people from low-income households are reluctant to let individual agents take care of their savings under the government-endorsed branchless banking program, a recent study has revealed. The Financial Services Authority’s (OJK) branchless banking program, locally known as Laku Pandai, offers banking and financial services to all Indonesian citizens through the help of other parties, including individual and institutional agents, whose work is supported by cellphones and other IT facilities.

Axiata Group Bhd’s 10-year US$500mil Sukuk received strong response with a final book of over US$900mil orders. The telco company said this was a bid-to-cover ratio of over 1.8 times, and a final yield of 4.357%. The bookbuilding exercise commenced with an initial price guidance of US Treasuries (“UST”) + 2.60% area. Demand for the Sukuk issuance led to a final price guidance of UST + 2.45% area ± 0.05% at Asian close/London mid with books in excess of US$1.4bil. The Sukuk would be issued by its Malaysian-incorporated special purpose vehicle, Axiata SPV2 Bhd. Proceeds of the Sukuk Issuance will be utilised to fund the proposed acquisition of Ncell Pvt. Ltd.

His Excellency Khaled Mohamed Al-Aboodi, CEO of The Islamic Corporation for the Development of Private Sector (ICD) is in India to explore possibilities of expanding the Group activities and interests in India. H.E. Khaled Al-Aboodi’s will explore the possibilities of setting up Interest Free Banking in India, long term solution of accommodating Indian pilgrims, pilgrim education on rituals of Hajj and an initiative of Medical Mobile Units for use in Rural India on behalf of IDB Group. The ICD has decided to launch a US $ 1 billion fund for financing the construction and is in continuous discussion with the Consulate General of India in Jeddah who has been provided with a draft MOU for co-operation.

Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is set to initiate talks with the Reserve Bank of India to allow them to introduce Islamic Financing in India. Islamic finace refers to the ways by which corporations who are a part of the IDB group, including banks and other lending institutions, raise capital in accordance with or Islamic law. IDB is also looking at starting interest-free banking in the country wherein instead of extending cash loans, the lender buys and leases the product for which the loan is required. And it earns rental on it.

A report launched by Thomson Reuters on Friday -- called "Indonesia Islamic Finance: Prospects for Exponential Growth" -- says the country's shariah finance industry recorded 559 trillion rupiah ($42.3 billion) in assets as of 2014, merely 3% of the country's financial industry assets overall. However, while the total financial sector's assets grew by 42% during the 2010-2014 period, assets for shariah finance surged by 139%. Boosted by government infrastructure spending and road maps for development of shariah finance, Indonesia's Islamic finance sector is expected to record double growth over the next five years.

Resetting Priorities - Redefining Roles

Five years ago, the Global Donors Forum was convened in Dubai to take on a challenging task: to define the roadmap for Muslim giving into the next decade. As a growing network of philanthropists, grantmaking foundations and socially responsible corporations, the Forum lead a consultative dialogue among the thought leaders from which, it was hoped, a new social compact could emerge.

Half a decade on, with the world having changed dramatically as events in the Middle East would attest, the Global Donors Forum 2016, has a new set of issues to focus upon. Foremost among these is the need to rigorously analyse the past decade in order to ascertain how best to formulate strategies to counter emerging challenges. The GDF 2016 will, therefore, attempt to set new priorities as it looks to redefine the role of philanthropy, with a focus on the Muslim world in a radically changed global landscape.

China is preparing for an unprecedented overhaul in how it treats its trillions in non-performing loans. They officially amount to $614 billion but are realistically anywhere between 8% and 20% of China's total $35 trillion in bank assets. It is the unknown treatment of these NPLs that has been the greatest threat to China's just as vast deposit base amounting to well over $20 trillion, which has been the fundamental catalyst behind China's record capital flight as depositors have been eager to move their savings as far from China's domestic banks as possible. As a result, China is reportedly preparing regulations that would allow commercial banks to swap non-performing loans of companies for stakes in those firms.

Financial Services Authority held an exhibition of Islamic financial products and services of Islamic Financial Fair (KSF) 2016 in Jakarta Gandaria City Mall in an effort to continuously introduce and bring people to the products and service of Islamic finance. KSF is also done in launch Working Group named SiKOMPAK Syariah (Synergy Communications and Marketing Joint of Islamic Finance) which is a joint program of the OJK and the Islamic Financial Industry in marketing Islamic financial products and services. In addition, OJK also launched Standard Book for Islamic Banking products such as Murabaha, Musharaka products and Musharaka Mutanaqisah.

Indonesia is likely to defeat Turkey to host the Islamic Development Bank’s (IDB) headquarters, a spokesman of the bank has said. Indonesia's strategic position and role during the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit were two driving factors behind the decision. IDB Indonesia country director Ibrahim Shoukry said the bank had committed to investing US$1.2 billion on projects in Indonesia over five years. Indonesia, he further said, had some advantages over Turkey due to its prospective market in Asia, which is healthier than Turkey's main market, Europe. Indonesia’s market will be broader due to the ASEAN Economic Community.

National mortgage corporation Cagamas Bhd is issuing its second Singapore dollar-denominated sukuk worth S$150mil. The sukuk, to be issued through subsidiary Cagamas Global Sukuk Bhd, will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Cagamas. The issuance, with a maturity of one year, comes under Cagamas’ US$2.5bil multicurrency sukuk issuance programme. The proceeds of the sukuk will be used to fund the purchase of Islamic home financing from the financial system. The issuance will bring the company’s aggregate issuance for this year to RM3.2bil.

The Republic of Indonesia begins global roadshows on Thursday for a new global sukuk deal, its first benchmark borrowing of the year in the offshore markets. The prospective Reg S/144a transaction is being led by CIMB, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered. A few weeks ahead of the roadshow, Robert Pakpahan, Indonesia's director general of budget financing and risk management, spoke about the sovereign's funding plans for the year. Pakpahan says he hopes declining oil prices and shrinking investment funds from the Middle East will not affect the pricing prospects for the new deal.

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) will launch the Islamic fund and wealth management blueprint sometime this year, in a bid to firmly establish Malaysia as an international Islamic capital market centre. The blueprint, which is formulated by the SC, will chart the medium to long term strategic direction for the industry as well as map out strategies and recommendations to strengthen Malaysia's competitive edge, said the SC. The strategies are expected to reinforce the industry's sustainability and will include, among others, strengthening global capabilities of market intermediaries and seizing new market opportunities.

In Mongolia, a project assisted by ADB and the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction used storytelling to help people protect themselves through saving and financial planning. The global financial crisis and a dry spell followed by another dzud or a long severe winter in 2008 to 2010 pointed out the obvious: with no financial safety nets, the most vulnerable households needed financial education. The project developed a soap opera called A course that helps you become a millionaire, which became the second most watched program nationwide in 2015. The plots were based on the information needs of the target viewers – 24 issues were identified, translated as behavioral messages and included in the scripts.