IslamicFinance.de

The 2nd Quarter 2011 issue of the Malaysian ICM quarterly bulletin published by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is now available online at:
http://www.sc.com.my/eng/html/icm/11_2Q_msianicm.pdf

Dear All,

as salamu alaikum wa Ramadan Karim,

May I kindly ask you to consider signing a petition against hunger, which has already more than 3 million signatories:

www.1billionhungry.org/gassner/

The rational behind it is explained on the website with materials, actions and videos; it is a joint initiative of various organisations and inshallah it will help to support the cause.

Let our fasting also lead to feel with those who do not have to eat at Iftar, let us sign all this petition right away and share it with friends.

Wa at taufiq min Allah,

Best regards,

Michael Saleh Gassner

More than 500 capital management companies and investment funds that are signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) will be required to disclose information about their investment decisions, under a revision of the PRI rules.

The PRI is backed by the UN Environment Programme and the Global Compact, and has signatories from 45 countries with more than $25tn of assets under management.

Submission deadline 15 September 2011

Palgrave Macmillan is pleased to announce a call for papers for the Journal of Derivatives & Hedge Funds

For Islamic banking to grow further and develop there are many challenges relating to financing instruments, market structure and market regulation. The aim of the special issue is to provide a central platform and communication channel for researchers, academics, business leaders and industry practitioners relating to Islamic Banking. The key contextual challenges in the Islamic finance industry today include the innovations and developments at the leading edge of the field, and the long-term impact, scope and authenticity of these ideas in the context of an Islamic community and way of life. View full details at:

http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jdhf/jdhf_cfp_islamic.pdf

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

- The Shari'ah requirements in Islamic banking and risk identification.
- Current practices of asset management and portfolio management in Islamic banking
- Need of financial innovation in Islamic banking.
- The impact of the Basel Accords on Islamic banking
- Islamic banking and corporate governance

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 23, 2011 – The Muslim Philanthropy Award winners were announced at the 4th annual banquet of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists in Dubai, UAE.

Every year, the Muslim Philanthropy Award honors an individual, a grantmaking institution and a corporation for their distinguished contribution to the field of philanthropy.

The Muslim Philanthropy Awards for 2011 were awarded to H.R.H. Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud (Personality) for demonstrating outstanding civic and charitable responsibility; Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Arabia (Grantmaker) for showing long-standing commitment to economic empowerment, human dignity, and institutional building; and Abraaj Capital, UAE (Corporation) for demonstrating longstanding leadership in advancing strategic philanthropy, creativity in responding to societal problems, and having significant positive impact on corporate giving in MENA region.

The key challenges and opportunities addressed in the Islamic Wealth Management Report are:

•Managing the Islamic wealth cycle through the entire process of wealth acquisition, preservation and distribution and achieving the required balance between spiritual and worldly obligations.
•Understanding the primary issues facing Waqf donors despite the strong growth drivers in this market: poor performance is due in part to the shortage of professionals leading to low quality asset management and lack of transparency.
•Considering the suitability of the Swiss private banking family office structure as a wealth management tool to ensure effective Islamic governance.
•Addressing the challenges facing Islamic mutual funds to achieve growth and performance.
•Recommending standardisation, education and diversification of Sukuk in order to increase the supply of products and the liquidity of the market.
•Analysing Islamic equity and indices performance over the last year to illustrate that diversification remains key for investment without compromising Islamic principles.

CIPE and the Global Corporate Governance Forum published a new guidebook with an accompanying video named Advancing Corporate Governance in the Middle East and North Africa: Stories and Solutions. The purpose is to help bussiness reach a better situation. They speak about self-dealing, lack of accountability and rampant corruption.

They try to proove that it is a good solution to incorporate sound corporate governance practices that assure that proper mechanisms are in place to preserve the core principles of fairness, accountability, responsibility and transparency.

Morocco plans to authorise first Islamic bonds. Central bank of Marocco wants to allow sukuk.

CIMB Asset Management has launched a monthly newsletter about the Sukuk market:

"Industry practitioners are positive that 2011 will favour the sukuk industry and various indicators show that a delayed resuscitation of the Islamic bond market is on track this year. As economies recover and high crude oil prices help to revive the market, sales of international sukuk are forecasted to grow over USD22 billion this year, which represents a 29 per cent increase from the previous year. The upswing in corporate spending, an increase in issuers seeking funding diversification and improving investor sentiment in the Gulf are also expected to fuel the sukuk market globally.

According to the HSBC/NASDAQ Dubai US Dollar Sukuk Index, the difference between average yields for emerging-market sukuk and the London interbank offered rate narrowed to 282.7 basis points on
6 January 2011 - the least since August 2008. Industry practitioners agree that the low sukuk yield spreads should entice sukuk issuers to tap the market.

Alberto Brugnoni, ASSAIF, will moderate the Session on 'Finance and philanthropy' at the “4th World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists - Defining the Roadmap for the Next Decade” that will convene at the Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai on March 23-24, 2011

Muslim Philanthropy is at a crossroad, challenged to build new models of giving while simultaneously refining old methods embedded in vibrant Islamic tradition. The foremost challenge in the field is to promote strategic and accountable philanthropy that complements and enhances the generations-old conventional charity, which is often personal and spontaneous

The Session will examine within a common framework the failure of zakat to achieve most of its socio-economic objectives, the stagnation of waqf institutions in performing their designated social functions and the growing divergence between the aspirations of Islamic economics and the realities of the Islamic finance industry. It will also offer actionable programme plans for zakat and innovative ways of using the institution of waqf to establish social enterprises, as possible common solutions

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIBK) acting CEO Ahmad Meshari declined to comment on a report in Haberturk newspaper on March 10 that the bank plans to buy 25 % of Asya Katilim.

EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ISLAMIC ECONOMICS AND FINANCE

SUSTAINABLE GROWTH AND INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FROM AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Doha, Qatar - December 25-27, 2011

CALL FOR PAPERS

The global economy continues to face the perennial problems of poverty, persistent youth unemployment, excessive inequalities of income and wealth, high levels of inflation, large macroeconomic and budgetary imbalances, exorbitant debt-servicing burdens, inadequate and aging public utilities and infrastructure, skyrocketing energy prices, and growing food insecurity. The reoccurring regional and global financial crises further intensify and magnify these problems particularly for the underprivileged segments of the world population. As a result, many countries are at the risk of failing to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations. However, some countries also present optimistic experiences to share, and from which useful lessons can be drawn for shaping the future economic scene in other countries.

Ben Verlong’s thriller “Takiye: Allah’?n Yolunda” a Dutch-Turkish joint production dealt with a major investment scam that lost many people’s life savings and the disappearance of investors along with huge amounts of money. The film starred Erhan Emre as a man who trusts his money in an Islamic investment, convincing those around him to do the same, only to be left empty-handed after the company goes bankrupt with the executives nowhere in sight.

The story is based on a major investment scam, which attracted substantial amounts in Germany from Turkish migrants.

The annual convening of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, widely recognized as the premier forum on Muslim Philanthropy worldwide, welcomes social investors, grant-makers, government and business leaders, visionaries, and civil society executives to a solicitation-free collaborative environment.

The 4th World Congress will initiate a dialogue around the potential roadmap for Muslim Giving in the next decade. This discussion will be enriched by the collective wisdom and experience of leading philanthropists and intellectuals from around the world. The forum will also examine challenges unique to Muslim societies, and offer options for managing them.

Update 17th Feb 2011:

The organizers of the 4th World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists regret to announce the change of meeting venue due to circumstances beyond their control. This unpredicted situation came about in response to the directives we received today from the Moroccan authorities. While we feel extremely disappointed, we believe it is prudent that we do not compromise on the safety of our guests.

Call For Submission

SWIFT said the certification would pave the way towards the automated processing of Murabaha treasury transactions, which reportedly represented 60 per cent of all Islamic financing.

Over 240 Islamic banks representing 84 per cent of global syariah-compliant assets are members of SWIFT.

Technical details:
http://www.swift.com/solutions/by_business_area/islamic_finance/index.page
Contact:
Asim Butt, asim.butt@swift.com

Dear Reader,

Many times I read, and on all conferences we debate on the issue of form over substance - is their a simple solution?

Let's revisit:

Form over substance means that contemporary Islamic finance takes more emphasize on the form of the contracts (in their Arabic terminology like Murabaha, Musharaka etc.) as in their substance, especially their economic substance, which often looks the same after conducting a sequence of Arabic named contracts.

Scholars have to judge the appearance of the form, meaning the contracts in front of them. A judge shall not guess the intentions of the contractual parties but typically has to rely on the text itself to come a decision. Different schools of Islamic law have different degrees on reliance on the form and considering or rejecting to assume 'intentions' . The hesitance to guess about 'intentions' is based on the fear to commit injustice to the parties and a procedural cause to get evidence about them.

Currently three Islamic financial institutions exists with a market share of 15 %: El Baraka Bank, Salem Banque and Salama Assurance. The figures are quoted by Hideur Nacer, secretary general of El Baraka, saying that the sector is about Dinar 100 bn annually, 15 % of the private market and 1.5 % of the public sector market.

Two foreign entities, Abu Dhabi Islamic and Haider Islam are said looking to enter the Algerian market. Main obstacle is supposedly the partnership rules in regulation (49-51 %) and high capital requirements of Euro 100 mn.

AL BARAKA BANK EGYPT ESC, a unit of Bahrain-based Albaraka Banking Group, may sell dollar-denominated Islamic bonds in the second half of 2011, the bank’s chairman said Sept. 29. The bank has not decided on the size of the bond, he said.

ResearchGATE is the largest social network for academic research globally. Dedicated social profiles of researchers allow to enter academic careers, published articles in journals and books, announce fields of research for international exchange just to name a few of the features.

IslamicFinance.de took another effort to create a dedicated group and invite researchers globally to use this platform and foster research in Islamic finance. The last academic initiative taken was to sponsor and start a full fledged platform for the Islamic Finance WIKI, the online encyclopedia.

Researchers are invited to participate in these initiatives.

Please visit:
http://www.researchgate.net/group/Islamic_Finance/

Poverty is a complex issue and needs to be tackled on a range of fronts including, but not limited to, improving economic growth. Poverty remains one of the big challenges to socio-economic development of majority of developing countries, especially in Sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia. Besides, this phenomenon has brought about problems such as illiteracy, malnutrition, disease and even crime. Global food crisis further worsened the already precarious conditions of poor people in these countries.

To cope with the bane of poverty, the OIC has to reinvigorate its machinery for economic growth and cooperation among member countries through comprehensive mobilization of the resources, within and outside the OIC community. A new approach to economic cooperation was, therefore fashioned out to ensure that all stakeholders are sensitized on the need for the accelerated transformation of the economies of OIC Member-States and the welfare of their peoples.