IslamicFinance.de

In spite of the fact that the Gulf bond market remains controlled, demand is still there, especially for sharia-compliant investments. The proof comes from an oversubscribed bond offering from a small Emirati bank.
Issuance in the GCC so far this year have been largely limited to sovereigns or sovereign-backed entities. The main reasons for this are the unrest in the Middle East.
Standard & Poor’s shows that only 6% of sukuk in the first quarter of the year were from corporate.

Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is going to issue a benchmark dollar-denominated Islamic bond. So far they have limited to government-linked and high-rated bonds.
Arrangers are : BNP Paribas, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank.

Despite the fact that the banks where asked to close down their Islamic banking arms by the end of 2011, conventional banks want to continue to manage the loan portfolios of the concerned units until their maturity.
Conventional banks are willing to convert their Islamic banking branches into commercial ones after the closure deadline of December 31.

Al Baraka Banking Group wants to sell sukuk worth $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) in September if possible, in order to try to clear up its balance sheet. It also aims at a target of a 15 per cent jump in profit this year by attracting new customers.

Stanbic Bank Tanzania Limited has plans to launch mortgage loans, vehicle loans and home loans through its Shariah Banking product sometime this year.
Mr Mohammed Issa, the bank's board supervisor Shariah banking, told at a seminar that the economy was picking up as result of a wider reach of banking solutions being provided by banks and financial institutions.
Stanbic bank Shariah banking products include transactional accounts, savings accounts and deposit products based on the Al-Qard mode of the Islamic faith.

Dubai’s government took over Dubai Bank in order to avoid a collapse undermining the state’s banking sector. The options were to run the bank on a stand-alone basis or merge it with another state-owned bank.
At the end of 2009, Dubai Bank had total assets of AED17.4 billion ($4.74 billion) against total liabilities of 15.7 billion dirhams. It made a loss of AED290.6 million.
The government promised that the bank’s current management team will not be affected by the takeover.

In a report Reuters stated that the central bank of Oman has approved the establishment of Bank Nizwa to provide Islamic banking services inside the Sultanate. Al Khalili Group and other local supporters will be the lenders.

The Islamic Cooperation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) has signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) with Lembaga Pembiayaan Ekspor Indonesia (Indonesia Eximbank), to explore together investment opportunities in Indonesia and other IDB member countries. This SPA was signed by Khalid Al-Aboodi, CEO of ICD, and I Made Gde Erata, CEO of Indonesia Eximbank .
This will also allow for the private sector in Indonesia to expand into emerging markets, especially to other OIC countries.

The Government's intervention assures that the bank's business continues uninterrupted while they decide if should be run on a stand-alone basis or be potentially merged with another bank in which the government has ownership.
The government also stated that it will take full control of Dubai Bank. The intervention will give the city-state's government full control of Dubai Bank.

Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), participated at the OIC–Turkey Special Forum on Building Productive Capacities for Poverty Eradication. The OIC took place on 11 May 2011 and was held in Istanbul, Turkey.
The participants accorded importance to immediate implementation of the OIC Executive Framework for Agriculture, Rural development and Food Security and acknowledged the on-going efforts within the OIC to encourage investment in the agricultural sector in land-rich OIC Member States.

Because of the recent world events in the Middle East and around the world the focus has again turned to rising energy costs and higher food prices.
In the second-quarter issue of the Global Economic Outlook, Deloitte member firm economists examine the effects of these events and offer their oppinion on global food inflation and soaring energy costs. The report also brings up the rise of income inequality across the world.
The report includes:
• Policy makers in Japan will keep a watchful eye on the currency lest the yen rise too rapidly; however, the authors state that Japan’s rebuilding efforts could also rekindle much needed inflation.
• In the short run, the political environment in the Middle East is likely to remain fragile, according to the authors. Oil prices may continue on a volatile path until the political climate stabilizes. Given the influence of the region on the global economic recovery, developments in the Middle East and North Africa will be monitored closely by the rest of the world.

The Islamic Development Bank wants to launch a dollar-denominated sukuk. The sukuk is expected to be launched after the completion of its fixed income investor meetings in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

A two-day International Conference on "Prospects for Islamic Venture Capital Funds in India" is being organized on May 14 & 15 at Parliament House Annexe, being part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the New Delhi based Institute of Objective Studies, (IOS).
Mr. K. Rahman Khan, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha will advise the inaugural session on May 14 which will start at 10 am.

Sharjah Islamic Bank's investors want to sell as much as $500 million (Dh1.8 billion) of sukuk.
Bloomberg's dates show that sales of Islamic bonds from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) slumped 58 per cent to $964 million so far this year, compared with the same period of 2010.
The HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai GCC Sukuk Financial Services US Dollar Sukuk Index reveales yields on Islamic bonds of GCC financial services groups fell to a record 3.29 per cent on May 5. The rate was at 3.33 per cent Thursday.

“Meeting Customer Needs by Making Microlending Products Sharia Compliant” is an article published by Compliance Search and written by Edcomm Banker’s Academy’s President and Founder, Dr. Linda Eagle.
The article shows how Islamic institutions and institutions with Islamic divisions can best reach low-income individuals needing Sharia-compliant banking services with microlending products.
According to Dr. Eagle, any institution that offers Islamic products or services must first invest time in educating their personnel on the policy and procedure associated with Sharia compliance.

Mohamed bin Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani sustained that Barwa Bank will be able to consolidate its position on the strong foundation built and the strong leap it made in 2010.
Sheikh Mohamed's statement reveiled that Barwa Bank’s strategy is to grow its customer base and to become a leading Shariah-compliant financial group in the world. The bank has also acquired First Finance and First Leasing companies following its 2009 acquisition of The First Investor Company. These will all be consolidated under the Barwa Bank Group

Confirmations were received by RAM Ratings that sustain the fact that Esso Malaysia fully redeemed and cancelled its MYR 300 million ($99.9 million) Islamic Commercial Papers Issuance Facility Programme on 9 May 2011.
RAM Ratings will maintain surveillance on the preliminary P1 rating of Esso's proposed MYR 300 million Islamic Commercial Papers Issuance Programme.

Australia announced its new annual budget this week, revealing rising prices. For Islamic finance it is important that Australia submits the final report that goes to the Board of Taxation. The Board will afterwards submit the report to the Treasurer. The aims is to help create 'a level playing field' for Islamic finance from a tax perspective.
Dr Ishaq Bhatti, director, Masters of Islamic Banking and Finance, La Trobe University, stated that the tax changes won't benefit the retail market. John Masters, director of ING Bank, as well as being one of the original architects of the government's approach to Islamic finance, agrees.

The Sudanese Islamic Bank plans to move in the future into Kenya. This would be the first cross-border expansion of Islamic finance in East Africa.
Kenya is in the process of changing its finance laws to allow Islamic finance. Kenya has two Shari'ah compliant banks in operation, a Takaful company and an array of Shari'ah compliant banking products in conventional banks, leading the way.

Although Takaful in Malaysia is becoming an increasingly crowded marketplace, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia continues to believe that it can grow further in its home market.
Mohamed Hassan Kamil, the group managing director, suggested that the company will be taking more agents and will instigate both a retirement insurance scheme and an investment-linked product over the summer to stimulate further demand.