IslamicFinance.de

Gatehouse Bank is making efforts to attract Oman's Sharia-compliant institutions to invest their funds in the UK and vice-versa. They are showing keen interest in establishing a business relationship with all Islamic banks. Gatehouse already have treasury services, capital market products like sukuk and real estate financing. There will be an official meeting between Gatehouse Bank's officials and such of Bank Nizwa and Bank Muscat. The goal of the meeting will be to explore cooperation possibilities and opportunities.

Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) has brought diversity to its Sharia compliant Buy to Let Purchase Plan product palette by launching a rent only BTLPP. It is a variable rental rate product which will be available to landlords of any faith. The deposit will be 35% and the rental rate 5.49%. Some of the other features of the product are the lack of early payment charge for clearing the finance in full and An administration fee of 1%. In addition, additional acquisition payments can be made without penalty, subject to a minimum amount of £4,000.

To provide support to the Real Estate team in the analysis, preparation of marketing and internal approval documents, and ultimate execution of Shariah compliant, leveraged, equity investment, real estate transactions whilst also developing the Origination area through the building of a network of contacts.

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In the process of Arcapita Bank's asset liquidation aiming to raise money for its creditors, the bank has sold its interests in five retirement homes outside London. According to a statement, Arcapita and its investors have sold their ownership of 80% in the property to Health Care REIT. The investment in the US-based publicly traded property investment trust was carried out in 2003 through a joint venture with Sunrise Senior Living. At the time Arcaoita sought Chapter 11 protection on March 19, 2011, the bank had assets of US$3.06 billion (Dh11.24bn) and liabilities of $2.5bn.

Islamic Bank of Britain reported an increase of 63% in home financing and an increase of 43% in long-term savings deposits for the first three quarters of 2012. Key factors in stimulating the growth and demand were the launch and development of new savings products, the IBB Home Purchase Plan (HPP, the Sharia compliant mortgage alternative) and Buy to Let Purchase Plans, which were strongly supported by effective sales and marketing strategies. Currently, IBB is the leading provider of retail Islamic financial products in the UK and is searching for ways to increase the number of Islamic Banking products it offers to the market.

Dear Reader,

Islamic finance had another great year. Many of its market segments progressed, like for example the Sukuk market gaining more maturity. Despite the ongoing debt crisis a good sign of hope and happiness.

Nevertheless we are - as an industry - still not satisfied with the achievements. Islamic finance shall grow stronger in terms of social impact and in terms of substance:

Hence, please allow me to re-iterate my call for participating in international initiatives beyond just our own industry to learn and spread knowledge and experience:

Calling Islamic financial institutions to become member of the United Nations Finance Initiative
http://www.islamicfinance.de/?q=node/811

Inshallah we see more Islamic financial institutions taking a lead in SRI, Social Impact Investing and other approaches while contributing with Islamic finance knowdledge to the conventional industry. The time is now; and there are signs that Malaysia aims for a lead:
http://www.islamicfinance.de/?q=node/4151

Exclusively with Hays Financial Markets

Head of Risk
Islamic Investment Bank – London
Competitive salary with benefits package & pension

My client, a boutique and high-performing Islamic Investment Bank, is currently seeking an outstanding individual to head up their Risk function.

Having set up in London approximately 5 years ago, the Bank has developed into a successful and dynamic institution with established business lines and service offerings. The Bank is comprised of four main business units: Asset Management, Corporate Finance, Real Estate and Treasury.

This top 20 City firm deals with a broad range of UK and international transactional work including structured finance and securitisation, debt capital markets, Islamic finance/sukuk and derivatives for banks, insurers, rating agencies and corporations.

It seeks a solicitor with at least three years' post-qualification experience in structured finance and securitisation. The right applicant will want to continue to have variety in their daily work and to be willing to support other areas, including debt capital markets and derivatives.

FWU AG Group had recently issued a US$55,000,000 Sukuk which is the first ever Sukukissuance made by a German financial services company. It is also the first Sukuk used for intellectual property rights under an Ijara structure. FWU is primarily offering Takaful solutions in both Europe and the Middle East. The issuance represents its first entry to the market for purely Islamic finance.

Islamic Bank of Britain plc (IBB) registered an increase of 63% in home financing and a 43% up in long-term savings deposits for this year's first three quarters. The launch and development of new savings products have played the main role for the development of the growth and demand. Examples are the IBB Home Purchase Plan and Buy to Let Purchase Plans which were strongly supported by effective sales and marketing strategies.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) made an announcement about the sale of 16 real estate assets worth KD84m ($298m). Thus, KFH reorganises its property portfolio. No specific locations of the properties released from its portfolio across North America, south East Asia, and Europe were made public. According to Anwar Al-Ghaith, CEO of KFH, the sale aims to ensure better returns for investors and depositors.

The project Sarajevo City Center in Bosnia worth €130,000,000 has recently reached 60% completion. The project is conducted in partnership between International Investment Bank (IIB) and Al Shiddi Group. It is a hybrid complex which includes a number of main interconnecting features. A shopping mall is the central building of the complex together with an entertainment complex on 5 levels that cover an area of 49,500 square meters.

Experienced individual to work closely with the Head of Shariah in providing in-house Shariah advisory and Shariah audit services.

The Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) has made its collection of best practices for setting-up and servicing Islamic funds public. Thus, a higher level of understanding and consistency of the requirements and expectations to this developing market sector can be ensured. This year several new Shariah-compliant funds were launched, making 2012 a busy year for the Luxembourg Islamic finance community. Luxembourg currently has 41 funds with EUR4bn in assets under management reaching the fifth place worldwide and the first in Europe in terms of number of Shariah-compliant domiciled funds.

HSBC will have to pay $1.9bn to US regulators after admitting its faults. The money-laundering probe of the bank focuses on the transfer of billions of dollars on behalf of nations under international sanctions such as Iran. Also, through the US financial system, money from from Mexican drug cartels was transferred. HSBC admitted its control was not strong enough and made an apology in a statement. The bank further announced that it had reached a deferred-prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice.

Gatehouse Bank's acquisition of a diverse industrial portfolio of 19 operationally critical properties all over the USA has been competed. The properties are leased to 16 tenants, whereby the remaining lease term is 14 years in average. The portfolio is stabilised at 100% occupancy. The acquisition worth $178 million was carried out in partnership with the Brennan Investment Group (BIG).

A savings market area in which a number of new names at the top of the best buy tables emerged this year is the area of fixed rate savings bonds. In terms of the best rates in the one, two, and three-year bond market, the predominant banks are such as United Bank UK, the State Bank of India, the Bank of London and the Middle East, the Islamic Bank of Britain, Triodos Bank and First Save. No high street bank can be seen in the top list of the area. In order to be protected in the event that a bank or other institution goes bust, UK savers can rely on the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

Saudi Arabian financial services company Sidra Capital (Sidra) and Swiss alternative investment house INOKS Capital SA (INOKS) made an announcement about investments in various transactions by its jointly managed Sidra Ancile Global Structured Trade Finance Fund (STFIF). The joint facility totals $13.5 million. STFIF is regulated both by Saudi Arabia Capital Market Authority (CMA) and the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) of Luxembourg. The fund has given approval to a number of investments in various transactions since the closure of its first offering of subscription in September 2012.

Despite the worldwide domination of a few credit rating agencies, two not-for-profit rating providers announced their alliance. The agencies are Wikirating and Public Sector Credit Solutions (PSCS). They both use crowdsourcing techniques, thus aiming to improve credit ratings. Wikirating employs a technology similar to that of Wikipedia in order to gather and aggregate information and views about credit quality for multiple categories of bonds. PSCS has provided an open source software tool which is used to calculates default probabilities for government bonds. It also has fully transparent sample models and data sets.

Date: 15 November
Birmingham, West Midlands
£30,000 - £35,000 per annum

IBB is the UK's first FSA approved Islamic bank established Sept 2004. We are a stand-alone, Sharia compliant, retail bank in the UK and aim to provide a friendly, inclusive and personal service for all our customers. Based on the outskirts of Birmingham city centre, we are a small company of professionals with a promise to provide 'banking you can believe in'.