IslamicFinance.de

Islamic finance is drawing more interest in Russia as the country struggles economically and requires fundamentally new approaches to attract investments from abroad. The sector is just beginning to grow in Russia and its perspectives were discussed during the recent Gaidar’s Forum in Moscow, one of the major annual international conferences on economy in Russia. Implementation of Islamic finance in Russia started through the so-called pilot projects in the predominantly Muslim republic of Tatarstan. It has both existing infrastructure and client base. Islamic banking could account for up to 5 per cent of the entire financial market in Russia.

The CMA Board has issued its resolution approving Bank Albilad’s request to increase its capital from SAR 5,000,000,000 to SAR 6,000,000,000 through issuing one bonus share for every 5 existing shares owned by the shareholders. Such increase will be paid by transferring an amount of SAR 468,000,000 from the “Retained Earnings” account and SAR 532,000,000 from the “Statutory Reserve” account to the Bank’s capital. Consequently, the Bank’s outstanding shares are increased from 500,000,000 to 600,000,000. The bonus shares eligibility is limited to the shareholders who are registered in the shareholders registry at the close of trading on the day of the extraordinary general assembly.

During a one-hour interview on the balcony of his suite at the Palazzo Versace hotel along Dubai Creek, Ibrahim calls for a change in the incommensurate philanthropic culture among wealthy Muslims in the Gulf, blames GCC government’s favourable policies for the “laziness” of Middle Eastern investors in Africa and argues there have been more commendable leaders in Africa than in the West in the past decade. Brazen or simply unwilling to rose-tint his opinions, the Sudanese businessman who founded African telecommunications company Celtel in 1998 is more than anyone else in the world holding African leaders to account. Since 2000, the annual Ibrahim Index of African Governance has provided the most comprehensive assessment of African governments’ performances.

The doings of Pope Francis have tended to be popular by default, but his Jubilee Year of Mercy is off to an unusually slow start. The ancient Hebrew jubilee was a periodic Sabbath year in which debts would be cleared away, slaves would be freed, and lands lost in the course of commerce would be returned. Jesus declared a jubilee as he began preaching the forgiveness of sins. But the forgiveness he preached began with repentance. Likewise, any jubilee must begin with the recognition that there are wrongs to be righted. Clearing away debts does not make sense if we consider debt an immovable reality, an amoral fact of life. To celebrate a jubilee, we need to recognize the usury in our midst.

Alongside the P2P lenders and crowdfunding platforms, challenger banks have continued to make their mark as leaders of the alternative finance revolution. One of those challengers is OakNorth, which launched last year. Sitting in a similar space to P2P lenders in terms of loan size, co-founder Rishi Khosla tells me that they really want to be known as the ‘entrepreneurs’ bank’. After obtaining a banking licence, the serial entrepreneur immediately set about building a relationship between the bank and P2P platform Crowd2Fund. One of its recent deals involved Thesqua.re, a London-based serviced apartments provider.

STWR’s Rajesh Makwana gave an interview at the annual World Goodwill seminar in November 2015. The conference featured a series of presentations and talks conducted in London, Geneva and New York and covered a full range of spiritual, political, environmental and social issues. He said that the eco-economy model that will lead us further is based on the principle of sharing, whereby we recognise that there is one planet worth of resources that we need to share and we distribute the resources in such a way that all people’s needs are met. We need to consider how we can become involved in trying to create the alternative, and in demanding change from our governments, he added.

Malaysia plans to tap the global Islamic bond market for a second consecutive year, joining Indonesia that’s planning a sale in March. Banks have reportedly been asked to submit proposals by next week for a benchmark dollar-denominated offer. Malaysia sold $1.5bn of US currency sukuk in April 2015, its first international bond issuance since 2011. The ringgit is the best-performing emerging-market Asian currency over the past three months as exports have held up and the government managed to keep its budget deficit within target even as oil prices slumped. Indonesia plans to offer Shariah-compliant sovereign dollar notes in March.

GFH Financial Group (GFH) has announced its full year financial results for 2015 with a consolidated profit of US$ 29 million before provisions of US$17 million, and a net profit of US$ 12.0 million, signaling sustained profitability for the Group. Total consolidated income for 2015 was US$85 million, as compared to US$90 million in 2014. Net profit for 2015 was US$ 12 million compared to net profit of US$ 27.3 million for 2014. Commercial banking income attributed to US$57.8 million and investment banking income attributed to US$20.1 million, while real estate has contributed US$5.6 million. The Group reported a loss of US$ 5.95 million for the last quarter of 2015 compared to a profit of US$ 4.2 million for the last quarter of 2014.

C’est un chantier attendu depuis plusieurs années au Maroc qui sera inauguré sous peu. La finance islamique (ou participative) a fait l’objet d’une rencontre à laquelle plusieurs experts ont pris part ce mercredi 24 février, dans le cadre de la 7e édition du Forum africain de la finance islamique (FAFI) organisée à Casablanca, qui s’achève demain. Le développement de la finance participative devrait permettre au Maroc d’atteindre entre 3 et 5% du total des actifs bancaires, soit un potentiel estimé à 70 milliards de dirhams environ. Au Maroc, des décisions ont été prises pour disposer d’un comité "Charia" centralisé. Les infrastructures logistiques ont aussi commencé à se développer.

Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission and the Debt Management Office recently inaugurated a committee to oversee Nigeria's first sovereign sukuk, an Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond in Western Finance that complies with the Islamic religious law. CNBC Africa's Onyi Sunday spoke to Samira Mensah, Associate Director at Standard & Poor's to discuss the rising demand for Islamic finance products in Africa.

In line with ADB’s commitment to support youth’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ADB and the world’s largest youth-run organization AIESEC, along with founding partners PVBLIC Foundation, Kinetic, Mekanism, and UN Habitat, launched the “Youth for Global Goals” (#Youth4GG) campaign at the Global Leaders’ Summit in Morocco on 16 February. #Youth4GG will serve as an activation platform for a collaborative effort between the youth and development stakeholders to create positive impact on the ground. To support the campaign, AIESEC’s YouthSpeak Survey will also provide insights to stakeholders regarding youth engagement to create and implement volunteering and social impact projects to achieve the SDGs.

Iran’s leading financial conglomerate and senior members of Iranian government bodies met over 150 international investors in Muscat, Oman today to discuss inward investment opportunities across a range of Iran’s sectors and industries. The roadshow was hosted by Sina Financial & Investing Holding Co, Iran’s leading financial holding company. The agenda focused on opportunities created by the re-opening of the Iranian economy to foreign participation, as well as an in-depth discussion of Iran’s capital markets. The roadshow concluded with a business-to-business networking between Iranian and international delegates.

Adnan Ahmed Yousif, the head of Al Baraka Banking Group, said Turkey, and especially Istanbul, had the potential to become a hub for financial services. Yousif, who is the president and CEO of the Bahrain-based group, said Turkish economic administrators were aiming to broaden the services offered to customers, with special focus on participation banks. He also said Turkey's huge potential might facilitate the interest of investors from the Gulf countries as well as create new opportunities for the recently expanding sukuk market in Turkey.Turkey and especially Istanbul, is very close to participation banking markets, such as the GCC and Europe.

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday interrogated director of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited and its audit committee chairman ANM Burhan Uddin in connection with a graft allegation. ACC deputy director Shamsul Alam questioned him for two hours from 11 am at the ACC head office in the capital, ACC Public Relations officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya said. According to the allegation received by the national graft watchdog, Burhan Uddin influenced the bank management in hiring a deputy general director by concealing information, and also misused his power in resolving audit objections of the bank for his personal interest, according to UNB.

Euris Group wants to develop Islamic Finance in Europe. The firm designed a banking concept and is now promoting its project, a Shari'ah compliant private bank in Luxembourg. The European market remains fragmented and far from comprehensive. To fill the gap, it's necessary to build a pure player, i.e. a fully fledged Islamic bank in the Eurozone. From there, a lot will remain to be done: entering the retail and commercial banking space, providing Takaful solutions to European customers and exploring the relevant investment banking opportunities, especially when it comes to European Sukuk. Euris Group chose Luxembourg because it occupies a central position at the heart of the Eurozone.

Islamic banking can provide an array of financial products that would help boost an economy that's dominated by small businesses and start-ups. These small entities make a very huge contribution to greater economic growth. That said, many of Uganda's local banks regard these entities as "too small" and only want to characterise them as "start-ups" which they don't finance. Islamic Finance also provides for the Qard el-Hasan or a benevolent loan. Conventional banks provide these products in same form. However, there is a huge difference in the detail of how all this pans out. Islamic finance is the embodiment of the type of capital that will help boost a growing economy.

Jordan Investment Commission (JIC) President Thabet Al Wir highlighted the Jordanian experiments in Islamic banking and halal food as a gate for cooperation with Germany to support the Kingdom's investment and economic environment. At a meeting with a German delegation representing the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and the German Federal Ministry of Finance, Wir described the Jordanian expertise in Islamic banking as top at the regional and international levels. The Kingdom is also among the first countries to accredit the Islamic banking system, he said. The presence of many Muslim communities in Germany provides a chance for the country to benefit from the Islamic system in its banking sector, the JIC president added.

The Shariah compliant models for financing the purchase of a home are several. However, the model best suited for use in the United States, given the legal and regulatory restraints imposed by the government for the protection of the consumer, is the equity-sharing model in which the home buyer aligns with a partner, such that both parties to the purchase provide cash for the outright purchase of the house. The partnership business model employed by Guidance Residential in the United States was derived from the same models described by the classical jurists in their works of fiqh. In developing its home finance program, Guidance Residential turned to a number of experts.

The General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI) tackles the profound structural problems in the Islamic Micro and Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSME) finance industry. The recent CIBAFI Global Islamic Bankers Survey from 83 Heads of Islamic banks in 35 countries revealed that MSME finance serves as the second key driver of sustainable growth of Islamic banks. Nonetheless, expanding this business line depends on the development of external factors of this market segment, as well as on how Islamic financial institutions can enhance their technical infrastructures in serving MSMEs. CIBAFI has therefore started the initiative to organize a series of Roundtable Meetings on the topic.

Fuel subsidy reforms by Gulf Arab states will help reduce pressure on budgets, but are not enough to offset deficits resulting from low oil prices, ratings agency Moody's said. Savings from increased fuel prices in the six Gulf nations will average 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), around $7 billion, this year against an estimated deficit of 12.4 per cent of GDP, it indicated. Moody's forecast that the price of oil will average $33 a barrel in 2016, way below its price of around $110 a barrel before it began to decline in mid-2014. It estimated the price to be $38 a barrel next year. Moody's expects GCC states to take other fiscal measures such as raising corporate taxes and introducing value-added taxes in the face of a long period of low oil revenues.