IslamicFinance.de

Bank of Whittier, a community bank in Los Angeles, offers Shariah-compliant products and is one of few institutions specialized in Islamic finance in the United States. The bank, whose staffers speak more than a dozen languages, markets itself to observant Muslim entrepreneurs. Deals are structured so that the bank buys into the venture with the entrepreneur, who runs the company and buys the bank out, with payments structured so that the bank is compensated for its investment. Profits and losses are shared; the overall cost tracks with a traditional loan repayment at a standard interest rate.

The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit has entered into an agreement with Nigerian Export-Import Bank for promoting Nigeria's exports. The ICIEC will provide credit insurance and reinsurance support to NEXIM. NEXIM insurance underwriters would be provided training after which joint promotion would be undertaken in the Nigerian market, Dr. Abdel Rahman Taha, ICIEC's chief executive officer said.

According to the rating agency A.M. Best, inconsistent regulation across the Gulf's takaful industry affects profit margins and credit ratings, while providing an arbitrage opportunity. The lack of coordination among regulators causes difficulties for takaful operators, increasing therefore their funding costs by as much as 1 percentage point. Some companies take advantage of the variation in rules - booking business in one country while selling policies elsewhere. Jurisdictions with specific takaful rules include the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, the Dubai International Financial Centre and the Qatar Financial Centre. Some others, such as Kuwait, do not have specific regulations.

Paramount Corporation Bhd (PCB) signed two private bond programmes worth RM550 million today with Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd, OCBC Bank and RHB Investment Bank. The deals consist of RM200 million Private Debt Securities programme, which allows PCB to issue RM200 million perpetual bonds, and a RM350 million Sukuk Ijarah Programme for PCB's unit, KDU University College Sdn Bhd. Group Chief Executive Officer Chan Say Yeong said the perpetual bonds provide PCB with access to capital to fund its growth plans, while the Sukuk will finance the building of the new KDU UC campus at Ultrapolis in Glenmarie, Shah Alam.

Paramount Corporation will raise RM550 million via a RM200 million perpetual bond sale and a RM350 million sukuk programme, which was put together by Paramount in cooperation with Hong Leong Investment Bank, OCBC Al-Amin Bank and RHB Investment Bank. The money will be used for capital expenditure and working capital, to buy land as well as to fund a new campus. Paramount will become the first private company to issue perpetual bonds which will be issued to institutional investors.

Saudi Arabia replaced the head of its Capital Market Authority with Mohammad Al al-Sheikh, a World Bank executive representing Saudi Arabia. Former chairman Abdulrahman A Al Tuwaijri was relieved of his duties by royal decree, without giving a reason. The action caused speculation that the kingdom will move toward opening its equities market to foreign investors. Al-Sheikh is expected to start regulating the Saudi financial market with new laws and regulations.

Belgium’s first independent market study "Islamic finance in Belgium – sizing the retail market" points out that over 70 per cent of local Muslims are interested in Islamic finance products and services. The study was independently commissioned by the Association for the Development of Islamic Finance (ADEFI) in conjunction with IFAAS (Islamic Finance Advisory & Assurance Services). It analyses Muslim consumers’ current consumption of financial products and services and their predisposition to change from conventional products to Islamic products.

Indonesia raised 1.5 trillion rupiah ($155.11 million) at its first sukuk auction of the year on Feb. 5. 6-month Shariah T-bills, as well as project-based 5- and 24-year sukuk were sold to finance the country's budget deficit. According to the Finance Ministry's debt office, the targeted amount was reached.

Islamic 'Sukuk' could be an alternative source of financing for constructing Padma Bridge. A day-long international conference on Islamic finance, titled 'Islamic Finance news Roadshow' held Tuesday in the city discussed on the issue. Moreover, key issues pertinent to the country's Islamic financial market and its challenges and opportunities were addressed. The growth potential for Bangladesh's Islamic finance industry is high, and coupled with a steadily growing economy and financial reforms.

Paramount Corporation Bhd (PCB) agreed two private bond programmes worth RM550 million with Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd, OCBC Bank and RHB Investment Bank. The deals consist of RM200 million private debt securities programme, which allows PCB to issue RM200 million perpetual bonds, and a RM350 million Sukuk Ijarah Programme for PCB’s unit, KDU University College Sdn Bhd (KDU UC). According to group CEO Chan Say Yeong, the fund arising from the bonds would be used for PCB’s future expenditure, increase landbank for development, investment in the education business and for working capital purposes.

3BL 'Triple Bottom Line' Associates (3BL), Bahrain's first social impact and sustainability consultancy, has released the results of the Bahrain Responsible Business Survey. According to report, the most popular understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is community engagement. Whereas, the most prevalent CSR activities are: Community Engagement, Employee Wellness, Transparency, Corporate Governance, Health and Safety, and Gender Equality and Diversity. The importance given to the environment among survey respondents was much lower than for social responsibility.

ASM Investment Services which manages 14 unit trust funds, of which 11 are already syariah-compliant, will convert the remaining three into shariah-compliant assets. According to the company's CEO Ameer Ali Mohamed, the syariah-compliant unit trust industry has lots of potential. Therefore, ASM Investment aims to be a syariah-compliant fund management company by year-end.

SGI-Mitabu, a venture between The Solar Guys International and Mitabu Australia will finance its entire Indonesian solar power project using sharia-compliant financing. The first 50 megawatt (MW) of the 250 MW solar power project will be financed through the issuance of a seven-year A$100 million ($104 million) sukuk in Labuan, Malaysia's offshore financial centre. This will be followed by two more tranches which will be structured as either sukuk or Islamic syndicated loans.

Abdul Aziz al Balushi, CEO of Ahlibank, said that the bank may convert some of the existing conventional branches to Islamic banking ones or may open more new Islamic banking branches. He added that services, products and dealing of Ahlibank's Al Hilal Islamic Banking Services are built on the tenets of truth and transparency, and are in accordance with sharia principles. Ahlibank is confident that Islamic banking will be a great success in Oman.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) group announced its financial results for last year, reporting a net profit of Dhs1.19bn, an increase of 13% compared to 2011. DIB's Board of Directors also recommended the distribution of a cash dividend of 15%, subject to regulatory and general assembly approvals. In general, the financial results show healthy growth across the bank's operations, confirmed by Fitch Ratings recently, that gave the bank a Long-term Issuer Default Rating at 'A' with a stable outlook.

The Paramount Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of KDU University College, plans to issue Islamic medium-term notes (sukuk ijarah) of up to RM350 million in nominal value. Hong Leong Investment Bank, OCBC Al-Amin Bank and RHB Investment Bank are the joint principal advisers, arrangers and lead managers for the sukuk programme. The Securities Commission Malaysia had approved the issuance of the proposed sukuk programme via a letter on January 31.

Dubai aims to become a top global centre for Islamic bonds by introducing more detailed standards about issuance and trading. The emirate hopes the new standards will reduce disputes between scholars, issuers and investors over what types of debt structures are permissible and attract more business to its market. Last month, Dubai Financial Market (DFB) published a draft of its proposals, which the industry can comment. DFB plans to issue the final version of the standards in March.

Shuaa Capital announced the establishment of Saudi-based Gulf Installments Company, which focuses on providing installment and lease financing to businesses across a variety of sectors and assets. Lease periods are available from 1 to 4 years and can be tailored to suit the needs of each individual client based on the term, down payment and rental plan. David Hunt was appointed CEO of Gulf Installments Company which will be operated by Gulf Finance under a management contract with Shuaa.

Malaysian SC's Shariah Advisory Council (SAC) revised the screening methodology for shariah-compliant securities, in order to further build scale in the shariah-compliant equity and investment management segments as well as expand the Islamic capital market's international reach. The new screening methodology includes a financial ratio benchmark which looks at cash over total asset and debt over total asset screenings. Therefore, it may shorten the list of shariah-compliant companies when coming into force in November 2013.

Mashreq has reported a net profit of AED1.3 billion for the last year, constituting a 60 per cent increase on the previous year. The annual increase is on the back of fee income and investment income. The board has proposed a cash dividend of 38% subject to Central Bank and shareholder approval. According to the Chief Executive Officer of Mashreq, H.E. Abdul-Aziz Al Ghurair, the sucess of Mashreq in 2012 is based on commitment to customer centricity and staying at the leading edge of banking innovation. The bank also received several awards last year.