IslamicFinance.de

Islamic banks say their small scale and a lack of risk-management products makes it harder for them to compete. The average return on equity at Shariah-compliant lenders was 11.6 percent in 2011, compared with 15.3 percent at their non-Islamic counterparts. Moreover, Shariah banks had an average $17 billion of assets in 2011, less than the $65 billion for non-Islamic lenders, resulting in operating costs as a proportion of holdings that were 50 percent higher. This is due to the fact that most Islamic banks have very basic risk infrastructure and most of these institutions operate in domestic markets which are highly competitive. Therefore, growth is becoming more challenging to achieve.

According to Bahrain central bank executive director Khalid Hamad Abdul Rahman Hamad, making Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) standard mandatory is essential to take Islamic finance to the next level which is internationalisation. Until now, the articles of association of IFSB is voluntary and does not require the member countries to adopt. With the standard being mandatory, situations or regulatory arbitrage can be avoided. Moreover, Khalid Hamad noted that growth for a certain industry would require proper regulations, good standards in accounting, practice, prudential and skilled resources. He added that Islamic finance must invest in syariah-compliant instruments that create value for the society.

The Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Ça?lyan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the members of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) on March 2 during a recent visit to Saudi Arabia. Through the MoU, he is aiming to form new trade and investment ties with the Islamic world. It includes the detection of fields of cooperation between the countries to encourage bilateral trade and investments. Moreover, Ça?layan called for Turkish contractors to take a share from Saudi Arabian infrastructure investments in order to reach $1 trillion in 20 years.

Barwa Bank has appointed Khalid al Subeai as Chief Executive Officer at its wholly-owned investment banking subsidiary, The First Investor QSC (TFI). He is responsible for driving TFI's strategy and day-to-day management. Prior to joining Barwa Bank, Al- Subeai has held several leadership positions within the Finance sector in Qatar. Under his leadership, TFi is looking to expand and develop its investment banking franchise.

Dubai Islamic Bank plans to boost its capital through a sharia-compliant debt instrument. Therefore, the bank will hold investor meetings in Asia, Middle East and Europe starting March 7 ahead of issuing the dollar-denominated, benchmark-sized hybrid sukuk, subject to market conditions. Benchmark-size is understood to be at least $500 million. The potential sale will be arranged by Emirates NBD , HSBC Holdings, National Bank of Abu Dhabi , Standard Chartered and the bank itself.

Noor Islamic Bank (Noor) announced the appointment of Narendra Swarup as Chief Risk Officer (CRO). In his role, Swarup is responsible for all the risk functions of the bank. He has more than 25 years of international experience in risk management in sovereign funds and international banks. In addition to his expertise in wholesale and investment banking, retail and private banking and asset management, he is regarded as an industry expert in overseeing credit and operational risk, as well as compliance and governance.

Dubai's Noor Investment Group and a government-run charitable foundation have agreed to set up a joint venture company that will manage funds on behalf of Islamic charities in the United Arab Emirates and beyond.

Noor Investment Group and Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation (AMAF) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish 'Noor Awqaf LLC' in the UAE. Noor Awqaf will complement the work of AMAF in offering enabling financial services to Awqaf entities around the world. The MoU was signed by Ahmed Kalim, Deputy Group CEO, of Noor Investment Group and Tayeb Abdel Rahman Al Rayes, Secretary General of AMAF.
Noor Awqaf has been set up as an independent limited liability company, with an initial issued and paid up share capital of Dhs10m. Noor Awqaf is 60% owned by Noor Investment Group and 40% by AMAF.

Saudi Almarai Co picks NCB Capital to arrange local currency sukuk. The dairy group Almarai is going to hold meetings with the Saudi investors over next two weeks.

Kenya Reinsurance Corporation ( Kenya Re) is one of several local firms to venture into the Islamic re-insurance business with establishment of a Sh50 million Re-Takaful (or Sharia compliant reinsurance) window. Managing Director Jadiah Mwarania said demand for Shari’ah-compliant products has been growing and Kenya Re is seeking to ensure it retains existing business and expand into new markets. Kenya Re also launched a newly appointed board that would guide, monitor and supervise the new venture to ensure compliance with Sharia rules and principles. Mwarania expressed confidence that rekakaful would enable Kenya Re increase market share and attain financial growth.

Safa Investment Services received this week its official certification for Shari'a compliance from Shariyah Review Bureau. It makes Safa Investment Services the first Islamic global asset management business in the world. Safa permits customers to benefit from global asset diversification of their managed accounts, but with a complete respect for the principles of Islamic law. This includes not only selecting securities that meet global regulatory standards, but also the process to manage accounts and the contracts under which they are managed.

Jaiz Bank Plc has said it increased its authorised share capital to about N11 billion from only about N5 billion in January 2012 when it commenced operation. The bank is currently financing critical areas such as Agricultural, Small and Medium Scale Industries and Home Finance. General Manager, Business Development, Mallam Hassan Usman said the bank's plan is to expand to 25 branches before the end of the year. Moreover, Jaiz offers financing products and services like other conventional banks except these are devoid of interest. The services are available to all irrespective of race or religion, he added.

Due to complete management failure, two state-controlled banks, the SME Bank and the Islamic Bank of Thailand, are now dealing with bad loans in excess of 80 billion baht. This management failure is collective, whether it be the executives and directors of the two banks, the political leadership which appointed both or the Finance Ministry officials tasked with supervising the institutions. The problems at the institutions are conflicts in terms of policy direction, internal fraud and corruption and management inefficiency at the board, senior executive and staff levels. The public didn't create the troubles at these banks, but now must shoulder the cost of fixing them.

A new initiative to transform Dubai into a global hub for sukuks is aimed at positioning the UAE as a top-ranked economy in the world, according to His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Dubai is planning to achieve its goal through a series of initiatives and programmes which in turn will activate the role of Islamic economy in the economy. Moreover, the necessary organisational framework will be completed and national cadres and experts mobilised to give this sector the anticipated momentum.

Bank Islam Malaysia has defended its recent move to suspend its chief economist Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajuddin after he had predicted a narrow win for Pakatan Rakyat in the upcoming general election. However, a bank source said predictions on the elections are personal opinions that don't in anyway affect financial institutions like Bank Islam. Nevertheless, the bank discovered evidence of violations of the bank's internal policies that were so serious that warranted the bank to lodge a report with the commercial crime division of the police. Further internal investigations by the bank also revealed that Azrul had sent out series of emails relating to the bank's official documents from his office to third parties, including confidential minutes of the bank's board meeting. Azrul is due to appear before the bank's disciplinary board in March.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Turkey maintained its growth in 2012 and increased its profits to TL250m, 28% increase compared to 2011, according to KFH CEO and KFH - Turkey Chairman Mohammed Sulaiman Al-Omar. Moreover, the bank increased its assets by 27% to TL19bn and its loans by 14% to TL12bn and capital adequacy ratio stood at about 14%. He added that the results achieved were in accordance with the plans, targeted shares, development projects and restructuring programme. The bank also targeted markets in the neighboring countries of Turkey and enhance cooperation and partnership relations with many economic and commercial activities, as well as presenting new products.

Great Eastern Takaful Sdn Bhd (Great Eastern Takaful) has appointed Zafri Abdul Halim as the CEO, effective from March 1, 2013. Before, he was the company’s chief financial officer. Zafri holds a Master of Science in Project Management from George Washington University and a Bachelors Degree in Accountancy in addition to being a member of Malaysian Institute of Accountant and a certified Chartered Accountant. He said, Great Eastern Takaful will pursue its main strategies in penetrating the local market with its dual agency approach and direct agency under Great Eastern Takaful Own Agency (GOA).

Differences seen in interpretation of syariah compliance among various Islamic finance markets are disappearing as there has been inter-market convergence of respective interpretations on a global scale moving forward. According to the chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Saadiq Bhd (Saadiq) Wasim Saifi, convergence between Middle East interpretation of syariah compliance and the interpretation seen in Islamic finance institutions in Malaysia is happening. Many transactions are being structured using Islamic structures which have strong Middle Eastern acceptability. Furthermore, convergence is also happening regarding the syariah-compliant filters announced by the Securities Commission for equities.

Aljazira Capital Co., the investment arm of Saudi Arabia’s Bank Al-Jazira (BJAZ), hired Samer Al-Jaouni as head of institutional brokerage and assistant general manager. He will start at the bank after regulatory approval. Aljazira Capital is one of about 30 brokerages in Saudi Arabia.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey, reinforced his credentials as a political leader of the Muslim world at the Sharjah Government Communication Forum this week. Besides championing of political causes in the region, he used the forum for the enhancement of his country's economic and trade relations with GCC states. A memorandum of understanding signed by investment officials from Turkey and Sharjah aims to extend further the business relationship between Turkey and a UAE emirate. Mr Erdogan certainly seems to have pulled back from full-blown commitment to a Europe-orientated strategy. In contrast, trade and economic relations to the south-east are blossoming.