IslamicFinance.de

National Commercial Bank (NCB) has received the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions' approval to become a member of the council. The resolution was made after a meeting in Jeddah. According to secretary-general of the council - Dr. Omar Zuhair Hafiz - the general assembly of the organization has nominated NCB to become a member of the council's board of directors. The bank's membership is likely to contribute to the promotion of the activities of the council through offering a series of innovative Islamic banking services and products.

According to a statement of Al Izz Islamic Bank, they have elected members of the board. The elections have taken place a month after the initial public offer of the bank's shares. The chairman, who is to lead a board of six members, is Taimur Bin As'ad Al Said. Last month, the bank sold 40% of its capital through a month-long IPO and thus managed to raise 40 million rials ($104 million). Moreover, Al Izz will list on the Muscat Securities Market on December 3rd.

James Bagshawe, 53, was the Chief Operating Officer of the Gatehouse Bank. He claims that he lost his £185,000-a-year job with the bank because he wasn’t a Muslim. Mr Bagshawe who has 25 years of experience in banking working for JP Morgan and Flemings, is claiming to be whistleblower in regard to an investment and so can be awarded unlimited damages if he wins the case.

Last night a spokesman for the bank said: ‘Mr Bagshawe was made redundant by the CEO a Christian. His appeal was heard by a non-executive director, another Christian. His redundancy was supported by the Board comprised equally of Christians and Muslims. Gatehouse Bank deny the allegations and say Mr Bagshawe’s position remains redundant a year after he left the company and there are no proposals to appoint a successor.

The tribunal continues and is expected to last 12 days.

Finance House PJSC (IFH) has made an announcement about the grand opening of its new main branch. It is located in the centre of Abu Dhabi. IFH is committed to growing across the UAE and to serving the customers who are seeking Shari'a compliant financial services. It offers a wide and diversified portfolio of Shari'a compliant products including personal and business finance alongside investments. Thus, it aims to enrich the financial experience of its customers using a customer-centric approach.

There have been some particularly noteworthy events during Sanusi's leadership at the Central Bank of Nigeria. First of all, he expressed his criticism of the 7-point agenda of late President Umaru Musa Yar' Adua during the confirmation hearing at the Senate in June 2009 and received high publicity. After his appointment as CBN Governor, he found confirmation of his suspicions that some Nigerian banks were just giving high figures to give the impression that they were doing well. It is obvious that Sansui's passions include banking, quest for justice, philanthropy, insightful intervention in public discourse, and vigorous defence of his own opinions. He is a contradictory person since he is supervising a western type of banking which is not in the least compatible with the Islamic heritage.

It is still discussed how to salvage the takeover of the Islamic Bank of Britain based in Birmingham. However, it is a fact that no offer for the business has been forthcoming. According to the IBB, Islamic bank Masraf Al Rayan appears to be a possible bidder following to collapse of takeover talks between the IBB and majority shareholder Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB). If MAR acquires IBB, QIIB will sell their 88.41% of the issued share capital of the Birmingham operation to MAR.

Dear Reader,

The German language book on Islamic finance by the Editor of IslamicFinance.de and Dr Wackerbeck from Booz Consultants is now translated to Chinese.

Please find the biographical information below:

Authors: Michael Gassner / Philipp Wackerbeck
Title: Islamic Finance – Islam-gerechte Finanzanlagen und
Finanzierungen
ISBN number: 978-7-5139-0217-5
PUBLISHER: Beijing - Democracy and Construction Press
Pre-Publication Date: 2012.7

Full biographical details: http://db.lib.bua.edu.cn/asord/asorditem.php?asord_marc_no=0001344540

Orders: http://www.amazon.cn/%E4%BC%8A%E6%96%AF%E5%85%B0%E9%87%91%E8%9E%8D-%E7%B...

Book review about the German language original: http://www.rpi-virtuell.net/workspace/24686AD5-936C-476D-9EA0-65E2968590...

Best regards,

Michael Gassner

Saba Islamic Bank of Yemen and Dahabshil Bank of Djibouti are making plans to engage in operations in Somalia in the coming year. Basel Haj-Issa, the new CEO of Saba Islamic Bank, said at the Islamic Banking Summit Africa in Djibouti that the reason for the bank's expansion into Somalia is the client demand. Since trade between Djibouti and Somalia is quite intensive, many clients of the bank need Islamic banking services in the country.

Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA) made an upgrade to the ratings of Kuveyt Turk Katilim Bankasi (KTKB) on the national scale from 'A/A-2' (tr) (Single A/ A-Two) to 'A+/A-1' (tr) (Single A Plus/ A-One). Both foreign and local currency ratings have been reaffirmed on the international scale at 'BBB-/A-3' (Triple B Minus/ A-Three) and 'BBB/ A-3' (Triple B/ A-Three), respectively. The outlook on the ratings is said to be stable. Even though the Turkish economy has shown resilience in the backdrop of global economic challenges, due to the policy measures taken in 2011, it can expected for the GDP growth to endure moderation.

Arcapita Bank received the approval of the court for a $125 million bankruptcy loan. The loan will be provided by Fortress Investment Group (FIG.N) and is said to be the first such loan in consistency with the sharia principles. It will enable the funding of the company in its efforts to restructure debt after filing for bankruptcy in March. Though the loan was initially set at $100 million, the committee succeeded in pushing to raise it. The approval was given by Judge Sean Lane in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, New York.

The half yearly results of Burj Bank Limited (Burj) for the period until the end of June 2012 were made public. The bank registered profit before tax as high as Rs 147 million. The announcement is a reflection of the bank's turnaround in terms of continuous earning for the first two quarters of this year. Furthermore, the growth of the total deposits is 57% reaching Rs 32 billion in the first half of the year. The profits are seen as remarkable progress, especially having in mind the significant challenges the bank has faced in the period.

Recently, Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) announced a flat third-quarter net profit. Even though there was a big jump in provisioning, the bank exceeded all forecasts of the analysts. During the three months until September 30, DIB made 298.5 million dirhams ($81.3m). Compared to that, the same period last year brought a profit of 298m dirhams. The 43% jump in provisions did not affect the steady quarterly profits. The bank's chairman, Mohammed Al Shaibani, pointed out that DIB's performance was notable for delivering strong results while meantime sticking to its conservative approach to provisioning.

Well, repeatedly we read and hear about the lack of profit/loss sharing (equity finance) in Islamic finance. Here my five cents about it:

1) Islamic commercial law, Fiqh Muamalat, per se has no preference of either permissible mode of finance, be it musharaka, ijara or murabaha whatsoever. All is halal. However, the call for modesty of debt in many hadith and the seriousness of being indebted upon death (withholding of death prayer) shows a call for a solid equity portion in business; let's call it a technical preference.

2) If we look up all debt financing modes (e.g.Murabaha, Ijara) there are remaining difficulties to finance wages, rents and installments on fresh debt. This is a true indicator for a required minimum amount of equity in a company.

3) Point 1) and 2) leads us to demand a sound debt/equity ratio.

IslamicFinance.de offers an overview about new job openings of October 2012 herewith - firms aiming to be included please send a job profile/hyperlink to newsdesk@islamicfinance.de - the full details of the advert has to be accessed by the hyperlink below the brief description:

Product Manager, Islamic Banking

Standard Chartered Bank - United Arab Emirates-SCB (United Arab Emirates)
Job Description
?Development of Islamic wealth products across CBMS, insurance and investment streams to create customer value proposition.
?Ensure successful implementation of the Islamic banking strategy across high value segment.
?Concentrated responsibility to work with the Priority/Wealth/Private/SME product/frontline teams and support functions to build on the current Islamic banking capabilities and to create seamless customer experience
?Act as a product specialist for RMs on client meetings to introduce and explain the Saadiq solutions to meet their needs
?Financial budgeting and business forecast. Evaluation of financial performance.

According to a recent announcement by Ithmaar Bank, it will convert the banking licence of its wholly-owned subsidiary in Switzerland, Faisal Private Bank, to a family office. The decision to make such a conversion includes focusing on the further development of Ithmaar Bank's core business of retail and commercial banking. The conversion will be compatible with the interests of the clients and stakeholders. The format of Ithmaar Bank's presence in Switzerland is to be approved in due course by the Swiss financial services regulator.

Read more on: http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=340872

Recently, the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies (QFIS) took part in the Joint Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum and Arab Expatriate Scientists Network Symposium which took place at the Qatar National Convention Centre. Papers on the Qatar National Research Strategy by four researchers were presented. The research papers mainly deal with the topics of Qatar’s national priorities and the renaissance and reform movement in Qatar. One of the presentations, prepared and performed by senior researcher Bahnaz al-Qura Daqi, was titled ‘Risk Management among Islamic and Conventional Banks - A comparative study of Qatari banks registered in Qatar Financial Market’.

Read more on: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=539247...

The new chairman of Kuwait Finance House (KFH) was introduced to the public. After the board's election, Mohammed Al Khudairi will take over the position of former chairman Sameer Al Nafeesi. The latter resigned earlier with the intention to engage in other activities.

Read more on: http://www.zawya.com/story/Kuwait_Finance_House_names_Mohammed_Al_Khudai...

According to an official announcement, by the end of November 2012 Dubai Bank will be rebranded as Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB). By merging the two Islamic banking holdings of the Emirates NBD Group, a stronger, more resilient proposition for customers will be provided. With the completion of the alignment process, customers will be able to enjoy an expanded network of 50 branches, 100 ATMs and CDMs across the UAE. Also, there will be free access to over 700 ATMs and CDMs which are part of the Emirates NBD Group.

Read more on: http://www.emirates247.com/business/economy-finance/dubai-bank-to-be-reb...

Despite that since the collapse of the central government of Somalia in 1991 there has been no regular operation of financial institutions in the country, a new law was recently passed. It serves as a framework which enables privately owned institutions to open and operate banks in the region. After the approval of the regional parliament in September, on October 4th the President of Somaliland, Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, signed the Islamic Banking Bill.

Read more on: http://sabahionline.com/en_GB/articles/hoa/articles/features/2012/10/22/...

The new Chief Executive of International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp (IILM) wasrecently made known by the company. Professor Datuk Rifaat Ahmed Abdel Karim comes to replace Mahmoud Abu Shamma. Before that, Professor Datuk Rifaat served as inaugural Secretary General for both the Accounting & Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB). Moreover, he was involved in the establishment of the IILM in October 2010.

Read more on: http://www.cpifinancial.net/news/post/16361/international-islamic-liquid...