IslamicFinance.de

After an investment, which turned out unsuccessful, at the beginning of the ongoing Arab turmoil, there is some positive perspective. A combination of excess liquidity and renewed business confidence has given motivation to new investment activities in the private equity sector. As Shailesh Dash, founder and CEO of Al Masah Capital, explained, the amount of money raised by private equity fund managers in the Gulf region has reached approximately 16.5 billion U.S. dollars in the last 10 years. He further cited two studies by consulting firms Preqin and Bain & Company which found out that private equity firms in the Gulf Arab region are in possession of between 3.8 billion to 5 billion U.S. dollars.

In time for the 41st UAE National Day celebrations, seventy Sharjah children will have the opportunity of a 10-day debut display of their artworks. The children are aged between 8 and 18 and attend 13 public and private schools. They are part of the 140 participants at the ongoing media arts seminar-workshops conducted by the FUNN-Sharjah Media Arts for Children and Youth. Since the establishment of FUNN under the patronage of Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, children from various school all over the emirate have been taking part in the seminars and workshops on photography, digital arts, filmmaking, animation, and graphic design.

According to the Managing Director if Bank of Khyber (BoK) - Bilal Mustafa - the bank is committed to cater the banking requirements of all segments of society. He further added that, for the purpose of encouraging the economic developmental activities in the region, the bank is providing Islamic as well as conventional banking & financial requirements. Bilal Mustafa made a statement at the formal inauguration of BoK Raast Islamic Banking branch at Main Bazzar Topi District Swabi. Other notable people in the areas of Islamic banking and the business community attended the inauguration ceremony. Some of the bank's plans revealed at the event are increasing branch net-work by establishing more branches by December 2012 as well as further enhancement next year.

The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Centre for Responsible Business together with the Pearl Initiative organized a seminar on integrated reporting. The seminar was held in the Dubai Chamber's head office in Dubai on Wednesday 14th. Professionals in the areas of CSR, sustainability, finance and strategy occupied in listed companies, public sector, private companies, state-owned enterprises and family firms took part in the event. The major topic of the seminar was integrated reporting - what it was and what ossibilities there are to help businesses take more sustainable decisions. Also, means to enable investors and other stakeholders to understand how an organisation is really performing were discussed.

Two new Islamic banks are planned to be opened in Mali and Benin by the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD). The openings are scheduled for next year. The initiative is part of the efforts to expand the industry's consumer base in Africa. According to Khaled Al-Aboodi, the development of Islamic banking in Africa is more important in terms of supplies than in terms of the potentially massive demand. ICD further intends to establish Islamic financial institutions including banks and takaful insurers in Africa. The established in 2009 Tamweel Africa Holding (TAH) is to contribute to the establishment, acquisition and management of Islamic financial institutions in West Africa.

According to the Raja Muda of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail Sunday, private corporations should seize the opportunity to be creative in performing their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), thus enhancing the future of their companies as well as their current reputation. At the CSR charity sale, which was organized by Malaysia Industrial Development Finance Berhad (MIDF), he said that he was certain of the growth of popularity of the company through this event. The charity sale was made possible in collaboration with the Perlis Islamic Religious Affairs and Malay Customs Council.

A new milestone was reached by the Islamic finance industry of Sri Lanka. The first Shariahbased income fund for the country was recently launched. It has the structure of a unit trust. It will be followed by another unit trust - Adl Mudarabah Fund - which will be launched under the combined expertise of Adl Capital Limited and Comtrust Asset Management (Pvt.) Limited. The Trustee of the fund will be Deutsche Bank. Its role is to monitor all investments.

The initial storm regarding the introduction of Non-Interest Banking (NIB) is gradually settling down. Now it is important to start exhuming the challenges that might crop up in its operations. Especially the taxation of the sub-sector by the relevant tax authorities and the corresponding setting of standards for the type of taxes that apply and that are to be collected from the transactions is extremely important. If the CBN manages to meet the regulatory requirements, it is empowered by law to issue licenses to appropriate entities for the establishment of non-interest banks.

According to Neil Miller - Global Head of Islamic Finance at KPMG - despite the global financial crisis, Islamic banking has demonstrated rapid development and lossless operation reaching an average growth rate of 10%. He further adds that the most significant development is observed in Malaysia. Azerbaijan should learn from Malaysia as well as from Kazakhstan. Azerbaijan should first take care of the lack of legislation in the area of Islamic finance in order to work on development in the spheres of Islamic banking and Islamic insurance.

The new rating of Tanjung Langsat Port Sdn Bhd's sukuk musyarakah bonds and RM135mil musyarakah commercial papers/musyarakah medium-term notes programme (MCP/MMTN) by Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd (MARC) is lower than the previous one. It was downgraded from A-IS and MARC-2ID/A-ID to BBB+IS and MARC-3ID/BBB+ID respectively. The downward change in rating is a reflection of the company's continuous losses and weak cashflow due to a delay in the commencement of its port operation.

The Islamic banking industry has been expecting the issuance of a standardised framework concerning the distribution of profit and pool management mechanism for the Islamic banking institutions. This framework is necessary for the procedure of financial reporting and general disclosure could be streamlined. According to a report by The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) authorities, the bank has developed a comprehensive profit distribution and pool management framework. The development was conducted with consultation with the industry so that transparency could be increased and standardisation could be brought to the Islamic banking institutions’ practices in terms of profit distribution and pool management.

The only tool (of interest rate) for RBI to control liquidity for balancing inflation and growth rate is not enough resulting in the inability to allow India grow better without inflation. Trying to exert control on inflation, RBI fails in terms of interest rate and the country's economic growth tumbles. According to RBI Governor, growth rate will decline and there will be an increase in inflation. He further indicates that in 2013 inflation is expected to rise in the third quarter followed by an ease in the fourth quarter.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) showed its support for the Diabetes Day by organizing activities through a small clinic at Baitok Tower. KFH employees and other visitors are permitted to conduct blood tests for diabetes. Also, awareness regarding the disease and means to prevent it is raised in this way. Thousands of patients and their families are targeted by the activities organized by KFH in support of the Diabetes Day. In addition, illuminating Baitok Tower in blue shows support to millions of patients worldwide.

Total assets under management reached USD 59.5 billion at the end of the third quarter of this year. A huge part of the assets - more than a half - are invested in money market and Saudi trade finance funds. Further 25% is invested in equities. The remaining assets are allocated among fixed income securities, IPOs, protected or guaranteed funds, and many other types. The distribution of the assets in terms of number of funds however shows different figures. 40% in equities, 19% in fixed income and sukuk, and 14% in money market and Saudi trade finance are the percentages according to this aspect of distribution.

Last month, the dominant tone in Rasmala was one of "risk on" due to fluctuations in $ interest rates which had little bearing on Sukuk pricing in the region. The nervousness in the international market only led to a brief halt in the local market followed by soldiering on as soon as positive sentiment returned. The striving for yield continued at a quick pace. This is evident by the strong performance of some yielding names in the conventional space which were previously unloved but higher. An example of such yielding names is Dubai Holdings 14s and 17s which reached an increase of more than 2% and 3% respectively on the month.

Oil palm plantation firm Golden Agri-Resources has issued its first sukuk in Malaysia worth RM1.5 billion (S$600 million). The sukuk will expire in five-year's time - in November 2017. The funds gained through the sukuk are planned to be used for the general corporate purposes of the company and are expected to strengthen its financial flexibility for growth. The issuance of the Islamic bond is a part of a RM5 billion programme.

Investcorp together with GCC Board Directors Institute (BDI) will be the hosts of a two and a half day workshop on Corporate Governance. The workshop will be held at the Kempinski Grand & Ixir Hotel Bahrain City starting on December 10 and continuing until December 12, 2012. At the workshop, faculty members of leading advisory institutions will acquaint participants with building board members' capabilities. An extensive peer discussion is included in the programme. Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, Minister Of Culture of the Kingdom Of Bahrain, will discuss the topics of Culture and Bahrain at the BDI alumni dinner on the second night of the workshop. A keynote speech at the welcome dinner will be held by CEO of Gulf Air Samer Majali. Its topic will be "Establishing a Strong Corporate Governance Framework at Gulf Air".

After the request of Dubai World of six-month delay on payments on US$26 billion in debt in 2009, default became an extremely dirty word. Consequently, when this year Dana Gas failed to repay US$920 million on its sukuk, the local press was hesitant whether or not to call this a default. During the global economic and financial crisis, the UAE and Dubai in particular were shook by the credit rating agencies, investors and the international press. Fortunately, multibillion-dollar bailout from Abu Dhabi averted the worst. Until recently, companies, which faced inability to repay their debt, looked for restructuring before deadline. Dana Gas made an exception, however, they managed to come up with a restructuring deal very quickly, thus demonstrating development in terms of maturity of the Islamic finance market.

The main focus of Islamic Finance News Forum was the continuous rise of the Islamic capital markets in the Gulf region as well as worldwide. According to managing director and chief executive officer of Alinma Bank - Abdulmohsen A. Al-Fares - the Sukuk market is part of Islamic Capital Market (ICM) and is growing at a quick pace. He further pointed out that even though the total ICM make up less than 2% of the worldwide bond issues, it still is a promosing area since Sukuk issues in 2011 amounted to about 84.4 billion worldwide with the tendency to grow further.

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.