IslamicFinance.de

Rob Pearce of HSBC analyzes a form of socially reponsible investing based in Shariah.
It seems that the Muslim community currently makes up approximately 4% of the UK population. This is anticipated to double to 8% over the next two decades. But the proportion of the estimated £500bn UK DC assets invested in Islamic funds is a minuscule fraction of this amount. Auto-enrolment carries many challenges and opportunities, as well as an additional five to eight million individuals who will be saving more or joining a pension scheme for the first time. With an average age of only 28, many of these new investors will be Muslims.

Hong Leong Islamic Bank (HLISB) appointed Raja Teh Maimunah Raja Abdul Aziz as its new chief executive officer.
Raja Teh Maimunah posesses over 18 years of experience in the financial industry, concentrating on Investment Banking and Islamic Finance. She is also the adviser on Islamic Banking and Finance to the World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation and has an LLB (Hons) degree from the University of East London.

The Dubai Court of Appeal maintained a lower court’s verdict sentencing four businessmen and two former bank executives to ten-year imprisonment and payment of Dh1.8 billion in fine jointly for swindling Dubai Islamic Bank.
The appellate court panel, presided by Judge Moustapha Shinawi, supported all aspects of the primary conviction of the defendants in the Dh1.8 billion fraud case (more than $500 million).
The verdict could be appealed at the Court of Cassation in term of 30 days.
According to the prosecution records, three other defendants succeeded to defraud the DIB of more than $500 million.

QInvest has launched the ‘Qatar Equity Protected Note’ that aspires to copy the movements of the most liquid Shariah compliant equities with full capital protection.
The note provides exposure to a basket of the most liquid and ‘investable’ Shariah-compliant securities listed on the Qatar Exchange.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) now provides a cancer cover Takaful to all its “Dana Women’s Banking” customers. This can happen through an underwriting process without the need for medical examinations. The scheme can be renewed upon the breach of a policy year.

Reactions were very mixed at the news that Goldman Sachs had registered a $2bn sukuk programme through the Irish Stock Exchange. Some were happy, others were skeptic.
Part of the confusion came from the fact that Goldman did not reveal its assets or end user.
But it doesn't matter if Goldman is merely exploiting a passing opportunity to tap into cheap funding or arbitrage the market, as it is hard to imagine a better way for Islamic finance to show it is efficient and can work as a complementary solution alongside conventional finance.

Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) launched an Exposure Draft presenting their proposed principles on liquidity risk management.
This draft is credit-positive for IFIs as it transposes a set of globally recognised best practices for liquidity management into the Shari’ah-compliant banking context.
Liquidity for IFIs remains chained by the absence of a deep and globally integrated Shari"ah-compliant money market, particularly in liquid, short-dated and high-quality issuance.

Turkye Finans Participation Bank was given $75 million line of finance by Islamic Development Bank (IDB). An agreement was signed by IDB Group President Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali with one of Turkey’s largest Islamic Banks. This proccess took place at the 27th meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, (COMCEC), in Istanbul.
The agreement brings long term financing opportunities to small and medium enterprises in Turkey through Installment Sale, Ijara and Istisna’a modes of Islamic finance.

Barwa Bank’s launched capital will rise to QR3bn from QR1.9bn following shareholder authorization for a rights issue.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani explained that the additional capital comes from the fact that they want to demonstrate a high level of financial strength, both in their domestic market and abroad. He added that additional capital allows us to supply for the needs of Qatar’s largest companies, that being an important consideration as they move onto the development and construction programmes outlined in Qatar National Vision 2030.

The Capital Markets Authority of Kenya has just animated the blue touch paper for Sukuk issuance by recommending that all future bond issues have to posess a Shari’ah compliant component to them. This directs that Islamic finance institutions will have an ever-expanding pool of liquidity from which to expand. The ruling will also grant retail customers to buy into the Shari’ah compliant Sukuk market.
The recommendations came after a study by a group chosen by the CMA.
Islamic finance players stated that they are analyzing the recommendations before they issue their views.

Global leaders point way to economic recovery at UN summit

Gordon Brown, Mary Robinson and global CEOs call for sustainable financial sector reform

Washington D.C., 20 October 2011 – With economic recovery topping the United States and global political agenda, a group of CEOs, major investors and bankers together with former United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President of Ireland Mary Robinson called for a far-reaching reform of the global financial system at a summit which ended in Washington D.C. today.

Amid a growing wave of protests highlighting economic concerns in countries from the US to the UK, Japan and Greece, more than 500 senior finance executives and policy-makers from around the world met at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative Global Roundtable (UNEP FI) summit to find sustainable solutions to tackle the drivers of market volatility and address the deepening rift between the rich and the poor.

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The US$ 100 million Sukuk for The Building Materials Company has been successfully arranged and paid for in full on its Maturity date 18 October, 2011. Kuwait Finance House, Liquidity Management Centre, Gulf International Bank and Standard Bank underwrote the sukuk.
The Sukuk was supported by building material factories which supplied an over-collateralization and an added security for all Sukuk holders. It offered a semi-annual return of 100 basis points over US Dollar 6 months LIBOR.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank gained a record net profit of Dh319.1 million for the quarter ended September 30, an increase of 3.2 per cent over the corresponding period on higher income.
Inspite of difficult market conditions and continued global financial crises, it performance from the core banking business was strong proofe being the fact that its net profit grew by 12.7 per cent year on year to Dh 1.086 billion in the nine-month period.
But it seems that the impact of the UAE Central Bank guidelines on Personal Banking fee income and asset growth was noticeable and the Bank anticipates a subdued growth to continue into 2012.

Albaraka Banking Group BSC (ABG) has purchased 60 percent of the issued shares of Al-Tawfeek Financial Group through its subsidiary in Bahrain, Al-Baraka Islamic Bank.
Adnan Ahmed Yousif, president and chief executive of ABG, stated that the procedures for consummating the acquisition are currently being finalized. He added that this acquisition endorses our strong commitment to the region despite the economic and political developments regionally and globally, which clearly prooves our financial soundness and successful strategy.

Gulf Finance House revealed its third quarter financial results for 2011.
The Bank recorded a net profit of US$ 4.1million for the first nine months of 2011, as compared to a net loss of US$ 162.2 million for the same period in 2010.
During the first nine months of the year, GFH raised its earnings by 279 per cent to US$50.02 million, compared to US$ 13.1 million during the same period last year. The reason fot this increase was mainly attributable to income from asset sales and settlement of liabilities.

Mr. Amer Mohamed Al Jabri was appointed the new CEO of Al Jazeera Finance.
This confirms the company's strategy of hiring the talented Qatari candidates, also to use the experience and knowledge in achieving the expansion plans of the company; in retail and SME sectors.
Al Jazeera Finance offers a comprehensive range of innovative and personalised Sharia-compliant financing solutions for Qatari nationals and expatriates in the areas of consumer and corporate finance.

Because of the ongoing unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, many investors from Gulf countries have been directed to Turkey.
Hussain Alqemzi, Noor Islamic Bank’s chief executive officer, stated that the Noor Islamic Bank has been assigned to arrange and manage more than $1.4 billion Islamic finance capital market deals in Turkey in the last 18 months, becoming the most active United Arab Emirate bank in the country.
The total trade volume between Turkey and the six member states of the GCC, Bahrain, Kuwait Oman, Qatar, United Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, reached approximately more than $17 billion last year.

It seems that the Institute of Islamic Culture needs funds desperate.
Although the institute gets grants of Rs0.5 million each from the Punjab and federal governments, and generates about Rs1.2 million from book sales, only the staff salaries are Rs1.6 million a year, plus the cost of publishing a quarterly journal, Al-Mua’araf, and an expensive legal battle underway over property, they need more money.
It has often happened that the IIC management had to pay out of pocket for budget over-runs.

The following borrowers are anticipated to sell Islamic bonds, which use asset returns to pay investors to acceed with the religion’s ban on interest: MAJID AL FUTTAIM HOLDING LLC, ALBARAKA TURK KATILIM BANKASI AS (ALBRK), ASYA KATILIM BANKASI AS (ASYAB), GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC. (GS) , ALMARAI CO, MYDIN MOHAMED HOLDINGS BHD., BARWA BANK, ISLAMIC BANK OF THAILAND, PALESTINE MONETARY AUTHORITY:, INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC LIQUIDITY MANAGEMENT CORP., AL BARAKA BANK EGYPT ESC and many others.