IslamicFinance.de

Rajhi Bank has formed a strategic partnership with as-Salihin Trustee Bhd for distribution of Islamic Estate Planning Services (IEP). as-Salihin as a trust company will offer its knowledge and expertise in the IEP industry.

Malaysia's government-owned Pelaburan Hartanah Bumiputra launched a 317-billion-dollar investment trust in order to encourage its majority Muslim Malays to invest more in property.
The sharia-compliant Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) would allow Muslim Malays and indigenous groups to increase their stake in real estate assets.

The government hired CIMB Investment Bank Bhd., a Kuala Lumpur-based unit of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. as a lead manager to sell between $1 billion and $1.5 billion of the securities.
This sell won't however appeal to most local funds unless the emirate obtains a rating.
Dubai is tapping international debt markets to raise funds as the government and state-controlled companies grapple to service borrowings that Barclays Capital estimated in a September report at about $112 billion.

Hong Leong Tokio Marine Takaful (HLTMT) targets RM1 million contribution in the first six months for its newly launched takaful product, HLTMT i-Ihsan.
This product was the first that offers customers the flexibility in choosing the amount of sum covered or protection and savings based on their financial needs.

AmInvestment Bank Group sets its target to RM25bil for next year from about RM22.3bil as at end-October.
This year, the division launched 12 funds and may introduce about the same number next year.
With an initial fund size of RM100mil, the newly-launched fund is expected to generate a double-digit return in the long term.

The last few issuances had been oversubscribed and a similar trend was expected next year.
Amanie president and chief executive officer Dr Mohd Daud Bakar said elements of structured products were now being incorporated into sukuk as it helped render capital projection and certainty of return to investors.
Organised by Amanie, the Securities Commission and Bursa Malaysia, the International Syariah Investment Convention will be held from Nov 30 to Dec 1 in Kuala Lumpur.

There will be launched two Islamic funds from Public Mutual Bhd, Public Islamic Alpha-40 Growth Fund (PIA40GF) and Public Islamic Infrastructure Bond Fund (PIINFBF).
The equity exposure of PIA40GF will range between 75 per cent and 98 per cent of its net asset value (NAV).
The initial issue price of PIA40GF and PIINFBF is RM0.2500 per unit and RM1.00 per unit, respectively, during the 21-day initial offer period from Nov 16 to Dec 6 2010.
The minimum initial investment for both funds is RM1,000 and the minimum additional investment is RM100.

Konsortium Lebuhraya Utara-Timur (KL) Sdn Bhd (Kesturi) has completed a restructuring exercise of its RM780 million Sukuk Istisna.
The exercise was expected to improve Kesturi's liquidity and overall financial position.

Islamic banks in the country are developing a local currency sukuk index to serve as a benchmark for sharia-compliant fixed income securities.
The index will track highly liquid, high grade bonds, including on-the-run ringgit denominated sukuk, said the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia, which includes the local units of Al Rajhi and Kuwait Finance House.
Malaysia has the world’s largest sukuk market

The plan to create national Shariah boards to oversee sukuk sales is drawing criticism from bankers and lawyers who say the groups would increase bureaucracy in the $1 trillion Islamic finance industry.
The Accounting & Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, a leading global regulator, is in the final stages of a plan recommending governments appoint panels of scholars and experts at the national level to rule whether products comply with the religion’s tenets, Mohamad Nedal Alchaar, secretary-general of the Manama, Bahrain-based body, said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 26. The proposal will be submitted early next year.
The regulator says such a system will help clarify standards and bolster investor confidence in an industry whose assets are forecast by the Kuala Lumpur-based Islamic Financial Services Board to almost triple to $2.8 trillion by 2015. The changes risk adding bureaucratic hurdles and slowing approvals at a time when sales are down 19 percent this year, according to CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management Sdn. and Atlanta-based law firm King & Spalding LLP.

HEWLETT-PACKARD (HP), the world's largest technology company, has issued its maiden US$100 million (RM310 million) sukuk to part- finance the development and construction of its multi-million-dollar next generation data centre (NGDC) in Cyberjaya.
The company, via its Malaysian subsidiary HP Multimedia Sdn Bhd, and CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd signed an agreement to formalise the Islamic term financing facility agreement in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
At the signing, CIMB Islamic was represented by group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, while HP was represented by HP Enterprise Services senior vice president for Asia Pacific and Japan, Kevin Jones.
The loan will help finance the development of HP's first phase NGDC project, with an option to be extended to subsequent phases in due course.
Upon completion in 2016, the campus will stand as one of HP's four global network centres, alongside India, Mexico and Costa Rica.

Cagamas Bhd, the national mortgage corporation, will look at issuing up to RM2bil in new Islamic medium term notes, said chief executive officer Steven Choy.
A business daily reported recently that Cagamas was expected to issue another landmark sukuk after the success of its benchmark Sukuk Al-Amanah Li Al-Istithmar (Sukuk ALIm) in July.
During the panel discussionon Islamic Finance Developments and Expansions in Asia, Choy said Cagamas experienced its fair share of challenges in the secondary market for its mortgage loan deals.
Islam Bank of Thailand president Dheerasak Suwannayos added that political will was needed to back the acceptance of Islamic finance in a country.
Businesses among the Muslim community were predominantly family-owned, hence the hesitation in letting strangers into the businesses.

Eleven central banks and two multilateral organisations signed the Articles of Agreement for the establishment of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) in Kuala Lumpur on 25 October 2010.
The collaboration is a landmark global initiative that is aimed to assist institutions offering Islamic financial services in addressing their liquidity management in an efficient and effective manner. In addition, the initiative should facilitate greater investment flows for the Islamic financial services industry.
The initial Memorandum of Participation for the IILM was signed on 7 October 2010 in Washington on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings. The signing of the Articles of Agreement today signifies the official establishment of the IILM.

Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) and Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia (IBFIM) will sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to set up the first Islamic bank in Maldives.
According to the agency, the agreement will bind both parties to co-develop Islamic finance in Maldives through extensive study of Maldives’ legal and banking framework to create a harmonise environment for the growth of Islamic finance.
MIB Chairman Khalid Khaled Al-Aboodi and IBFIM Chief Executive Officer Dr Adnan Alias will sign the agreement during the Global Islamic Finance Forum (GIFF) to be held from October 25-28 in Kuala Lumpur.
The agency quoted MIB Managing Director Harith Harun as saying that the bank is expected to be established within the next six months.

The growing demand for securities that meet Islamic religious principles may lead Canadian governments and companies to start issuing Shariah bonds.
HSBC Bank Canada may offer $500 million and three government-related borrowers from one Canadian province may issue $1.5 billion of sukuk, Omar Kalair, chief executive officer of Toronto-based UM Financial, said in an Oct. 14 interview. A “handful” of Canadian companies may sell C$1 billion ($980 million) of Islamic debt by 2013, said Daud Vicary Abdullah, global Islamic finance leader at Deloitte Corporate Advisory Services Sdn. in Kuala Lumpur.
Egypt, Nigeria, the Philippines and Thailand have announced plans to sell their first sukuk in the past three months, partly to tap Persian Gulf oil wealth.

The 26 percent slowdown in Malaysia’s local-currency Islamic bond sales this year may get a boost in 2011 from the country’s 10-year development plan.
Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd., a government-owned agency that oversees the water services industry, may sell bonds next year to finance acquisitions, while the eastern state of Sarawak will need to fund the takeover of hydroelectric plants, according to RAM Rating Services Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur.
Prime Minister Najib Razak is seeking to increase spending in the next decade to bolster growth in Southeast Asia’s third- largest economy.

The two-day Third Islamic Venture Capital and Private Equity Conference beginning Tuesday would act as a platform for venture capitalists and private equity investors to keep them updated with global market trends and Islamic alternative investments in the region.
This year's conference would focus on ways to develop a sustainable Islamic venture capital and private equity industry as well as analyse the vast opportunities ahead.
The conference will be opened by Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.

The Islamic Financial Services Board will be organising two awareness programmes in December 2010. The first one is a seminar on legal issues in the Islamic financial services, while the other is a seminar on the role of Islamic finance in the development of Africa.
The two awareness programmes are open for participation by the IFSBIFSB member organisations, which currently stand at 195 organisations from 41 countries, and other interested parties. The events are described below. The details of both programmes and their registration forms are available on the IFSBIFSB website (www.ifsb.org).
Bank Indonesia is hosting the Seminar on Legal Aspects of Islamic Asset Securitisation and Insolvency Regimes. The Workshop will cover the following topics; 1) Concept and contracts of Islamic finance; 2) Structures of Islamic financial products; and 3) Overview of the IFSBIFSB Standards and Guiding Principles.

Malaysia Debt Ventures Bhd, a venture capital firm owned by the Ministry of Finance, plans to issue about RM500 million of Islamic bonds in its third sukuk sale next year to fund investments, chief executive officer Md. Zubir Ansori Yahaya said in Kuala Lumpur.

Jakarta-based Bank Syariah Mandiri joined Islamic lenders worldwide to use Ramadan to remind Muslims to obey the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad that ban interest. Emirates NBD of Dubai waived payments on personal loans during Ramadan, while Maybank Islamic in Kuala Lumpur started automating charitable donations. Banks in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, offered limited-edition products to generate Ramadan-linked revenue and publicity. Bank Syariah Mandiri, the Islamic unit of Indonesia’s largest bank by assets, Bank Mandiri, collaborated with a local TV operator on a program aimed at promoting Shariah-compliant banking during the holy month. Shariah finance prohibits the charging of interest as well as investments tied to gambling and alcohol. Returns are generated as a share of profits from assets.