IslamicFinance.de

Yields on Islamic bonds of Jebel Ali Free Zone FZE and DIFC Investments LLC have boosted since April as investors shunned risky assets and refinancing prospects worsened.
It appears that th two companies also have sukuk maturing in 2012.
Gus Chehayeb, a Dubai- based associate director at investment bank Exotix Ltd., stated that the only one that he is worried about is Jafza.

It seems thst Islamic financial institutions in general are waiting to see what will happen to Egypt, one of the laboratories of the contemporary Islamic finance movement and currently in political and economic transition with elections — both parliamentary and presidential — due later this year.
This is happening although in June the board of directors of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) approved a proposal to amend the Executive Regulation of Capital Market Law No. 95 of 1992 regarding the rules governing issuing and trading in sukuk, in other words the law is in the process of being amended to facilitate the issuance of sukuk primarily to support economic development and investment in the country.

Through the acquisition of the local Islamic insurance company, Takafol SA, by Absa, it is once more underlined that the mainstream banks in South Africa are taking Islamic finance as a serious niche market business.
The Takaful premium market in South Africa is at this point estimated at about 3 billion South African rands (about $420 million), which is very modest compared to the conventional insurance market.
Banks such as Absa and Standard Bank posess clear strategies of growth and expansion beyond South Africa to sub-Saharan Africa, and Islamic banking and insurance are an attractive component of this offering especially in countries with large and affluent Muslim populations.

Khazanah Nasional is planning to launch renminbi-denominated sukuk, making it the first-ever Islamic financing in Hong Kong’s booming Dim Sum market.
It seems that Khazanah's target is 500 million renminbi (US$77.5mil) with a tenor of five years, although a three-year piece was also in discussion.

Ernst & Young was chosen to advise the Central Bank of Oman on formulating a separate set of rules and regulations for Islamic banking institutions. Ernst & Young Islamic banking professionals have already shown up in Muscat and started working on the project.

HSBC's Saudi Arabia wholesale and investment banking unit has made known a new open-ended Shariah compliant fund - HSBC Amanah Commodity Index Fund. The fund is purposed at producing capital growth over the long term by investing in commodities in a Shariah compliant manner, whereby the Fund will track the performance of a commodity index.

The 2nd Quarter 2011 issue of the Malaysian ICM quarterly bulletin published by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is now available online at:
http://www.sc.com.my/eng/html/icm/11_2Q_msianicm.pdf

Discussions on strengthening the Islamic funds and investments industry and building international growth by tapping into new jurisdictions will be held at the 7th annual World Islamic Funds and Financial Markets Conference (WIFFMC 2011).
The theme of the conference is intitled ‘achieving international scale and creating a vibrant Islamic financial market and re-invigorating the Islamic investments industry’. It will brinf together more than 400 key players, regulators and thought leaders in the industry on September 26-27 in Bahrain.

Absa Insurance Company Limited (AIC)'s agreement with Takafol SA (Pty) Limited (Takafol SA) further binds the group's ability to launch into Africa. The statement was given by Edwyn O'Neill, who is the Managing Director of AIC.
Absa Group underlined the fact that a larger presence on the continent was on their mind. It seems that the growing earnings on the African continent is very important for the banking group.

One of the most efficient channels to optimise non-core corporate funds is still corporate, institutional cash management.
The past month has seen extreme volatility in global markets, appearing from debt woes in Europe and the US.
As a key Islamic investment management company, AIIMAN (Asian Islamic Investment Management Sdn Bhd) underlined the opportunity for companies, institutions, and even high net-worth individuals operating businesses, to acknowledge the option of outsourcing their short-term cash management or treasury function to external fund managers in such instances.

Directors and chief executives have a fiduciary responsability to their investors, customers, employees and the general public.
Nabil El Hage is a former Harvard Professor argued several real life cases to put accent the issues, followed by a discussion by participants. He underline the fact that business owners can no longer afford to avoid the ethical dimension of their decisions, in addition to the economic and legal aspects.

Russian republic Tatarstan’s ambition to advance a Sharia-compliant market accepted a boost this week when the Kazan-based AK Bars Bank became the first Tatar credit to guard a murabaha loan.

Indonesia aims to begin investor meetings next week for a global sukuk issue of about $1 billion.
Agus Martowardojo, the country's finance minister, stated that the government had met with arrangers of the Islamic-bond issue and would start visiting "global financial hubs" next week, raising the prospect of imminent issuance.

Arcapita Bank had a net income of $50.2 million, registering a return to profitability for the bank, which along with its peers in the private equity industry, has gone through a tough operating environment in the aftermath of the financial crisis which began in 2008.
Beside its core business of deal-by-deal investments, Arcapita has made advancement in building its funds product offering, building on its track record in the industrial warehousing sector to expand several funds during the year, in Asia, in Europe and in the Middle East.

Dow Jones has issued a family of risk control indices and one targeting the Islamic investment market. The Dow Jones Volatility Risk Control offers access to Europe, the Eurozone and the Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) through the Dow Jones Europe Titans 80, Dow Jones Eurozone Titans 80 and the Dow Jones Bric 50
It seems that this is the first risk control index under the Dow Jones brand.

AK BARS Bank has finished with success the debut in CIS one-year syndicated Murabaha financing for the total amount of $60 million.
Mandated Lead Arranger was Eurasian Development Bank. Investment Agent was acted by Citibank International Plc.
AK BARS Murabaha facility is the first international facility compliant with Shari’ah requirements arranged for a Russian financial institution.

It seems that Dubai’s Islamic bonds are dropping not only the debt of energy-rich Abu Dhabi and Qatar, as investors avoid the region’s riskier assets after slowing global economic growth crimps oil demand.
HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai GCC US Dollar Sukuk Index and the HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai US Dollar Sukuk Index stated that the breach between Islamic bonds in the Gulf and those in emerging markets rose six basis points in the past month to 36 on September 9.

Mohammad Yahya Maroufi, secretary general of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), revealed that his organization has agreed to certify a bank to promote economic cooperation with banks in the Islamic countries.
He added that the plans include to open a trade market for its member states.
The ECO curent members are: Islamic Republic of Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) will launch its 100% capital protected 'ADIB Diversified Basket Note' that supplies an opportunity to small or large investors to profit from the anticipated strengthening of prices of eight leading commodities.
The note presents an investment plan of three years in the equally weighted commodities of gold, oil, lead, nickel, aluminum, cotton, corn and sugar.

It seems that Islamic banking has increased UAE bourses of nearly 29.3 % in their net income in the first half of 2011 while their total assets and deposits also recorded growth.
The five listed Shariah-compliant banks that were included in the report are: The Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB), Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) and Ajman Bank. The report was published in the semi official daily 'Al Ittihad' and prooves the fact that the banks had strong results in the second quarter of 2011.