IslamicFinance.de

Delegates from more than 60 countries are gathering in Jeddah over the next few days for the 36th annual meeting of the board of governors of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, which will take place on June 29-30.
The place of the meeting was changed because of the political turmoil and violence in Yemen.
The common theme in general will be bad political, economic and social governance, tempered with endemic corruption, cronyism, lack of basic individual rights and dignity, and the politics and economics of despair through high unemployment, lack of affordable housing and poverty.

Bank of London and the Middle East (BLME) will launch the BLME High Yield Fund. The BLME High Yield Fund is a Sharia compliant fund which targets institutional and high net worth investors in Gulf countries seeking to generate higher returns than those targeted by BLME's US Dollar Income Fund.
By inventing up to 85% in sukuk and 15% in Ijara, BLME High Yield Fund targets a net return of three-month US dollar Libor in addition to a 5% return per annum.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, has assigned Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum as the new chairman of the board of directors of Noor Islamic Bank.
On the other side, Sheikh Mohammed appointed Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum as the new chairman of the board of directors of EmiratesNBD bank.

ALAFCO announced a $2.7 billion deal to buy 30 Airbus A320neo.
The aircraft leasing firm signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the 49th Paris Air Show in Le Bourget.
ALAFCO already ordered 26 A320s of which 25 have been delivered. Including this order, now ALAFCO’s total order for Airbus single aisle aircraft has reached 56.

The GCC Islamic banking community is well positioned to build on a leadership role versus other potential competing centers such as Malaysia, Iran or even the UK.
GCC Islamic banks have also prooved their ability to be more innovative in terms of product development and provision of services as they compete for business with conventional banks. However competition in the GCC has also outcome as a fragmented Islamic finance industry with most local institutions remaining relatively minor players on a global scale.

Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) plans to issue up to RM15 billion in Islamic debt notes.
RAM Rating Services Bhd revealed that SEB had proposed the Sukuk Musyarakah programme of up to RM15 billion. RAM Ratings said SEB’s generating capacity is set to triple within a relatively short time.

Dar Al-Arkan stated that it will not be necessary to return to the debt markets to help repay a $1 billion sukuk maturing in 2012 but does not rule out having to make some asset sales.
Dar Al-Arkan’s 2012 sukuk last traded at 82 percent of par value.
Up to $100 billion in corporate debt needs to be refinanced in the Gulf Arab region in 2011. That's why it is harder to refinance debt maturing afterward.

Malaysia’s elder statesman Mahathir Mohammed stated in an outspoken attack that the “collapse of conventional banking, finance and the monetary system has exposed their weakness and the ease with which they can be abused.”
At the same time he bluntly advised the Islamic banks to avoid getting involved in unethical practices in their pursuit to compete with conventional banks.

The event date is June 28 to June 30, 2011 and will be held online. There is no fee to register. The Event Website is : http://microlinks.kdid.org/groups/speakers-corner/speakers-corner-44-isl...

Seera Investment Bank revealed the sale of BWA Water Additives (BWA), a UK based company in a transaction valuing the company at around $ 300 million.
The company's new owner is Berwind Corporation.
Seera Investment Bank has a strategy of seeking investments with strong fundamentals which exhibit potential for growth.

In order to help the government of Malaysia with a planned sale of U.S. dollar denominated Islamic notes, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd., Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc and Malayan Banking Bhd. were hired.

Saudi International Petrochemical Co (Sipchem) is expecting a raise up to 2 bln riyals (US$533.3 mln) from a planned Islamic bond offering to fund plant expansions. Deutsche Securities and Riyad Capital were appointed as joint lead managers for the sukuk.
Sipchem plans to part-finance three projects worth over US$1 bln with the sukuk sale.

Dar Al Sharia Legal & Financial Consultancy has signed a collaboration agreement with the German Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IFIBAF).
Dar Al Sharia and IFIBAF want to work more close especially in the field of capital market transaction for retail and institutional business. By bringing in local market expertise in legal and regulatory requirements combined with Sharia compliant product solutions, IFIBAF will benefit from the expertise of Dar Al Sharia, especially in the area of Sharia advisory and Sharia auditing.

The use of 30.2 trillion rupiah ($3.5 billlion) of state-owned assets was approved by an Indonesian parliamentary commission in order to guarantee government sukuk issues.

Finance, economy and planning ministers from 56 Muslim countries will attend a major Islamic economic and finance conference at IDB headquarters in Jeddah next week. It is possible that the conference will be open by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah at Jeddah Hilton .
More than 1,000 delegates including executives of Islamic banks and other financial institutions will attend the conference, which includes a meeting of IDB’s board of governors.

The UAE’s central bank is going to open up a repurchase facility for Islamic certificates of deposits to provide a new liquidity tool for the OPEC member’s banks.
One of the key challenges to the emerging Islamic finance industry is a lack of liquidity management tools. It seems that the new facility is based on a murabaha concept.

The takaful industry in Bahrain is rising because of the people that prefere Sharia-compliant insurance.
The insurance market in Bahrain includes 27 domestic insurance companies and 11 branches of foreign insurance companies covering both direct insurance and reinsurance.
Conventional insurance reported the highest contribution in total assets at the rate of 79pc.

Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), disclosed plans by the apex bank to sell its first ‘sukuk’ within 18 months.
The banking sector regulator has the strong oppinion that this will help arouse interest in Islamic banking in the country.

India has little or no facilities for them to invest their money in a Sharia-compliant manner. The total size of 100 per cent Islamic funds registered for sale in India was only $3.1 million (Dh11.4 million) in March 2011.
But, actually, India is important for the growth of Islamic finance. The country has historical ties to the Gulf, and is not only part of the Bric group of nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China), but it is also categorised as a rapidly developing economy (RDE).

The Central Bank of Nigeria is going to re-issue guidelines on non interest banking. The purpose of this is to cater for other variants of profit and loss sharing banking. The statement came from Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, CBN Governor.