IslamicFinance.de

As reported in the lower chamber of parliament, the draft law that removes barriers for implementing Islamic banking in Russia is submitted in the State Duma. If the document is accepted, the appropriate amendments will be made in the federal law on «Banks and banking activity». The explanatory note to the draft law mentions that attracting Islamic investments is an extremely effective tool in conditions of difficult economic situation. It is stated that within economic development strategy of Russia giving a chance to Islamic finance means to attract a large number of additional investment, in conditions of crisis economy to help Russia develop a new economy based not on raw materials’ money.

In a bid to accelerate the country’s economy, Bangladesh has launched a new interest-free financial instrument, highlighting the need for a strong Islamic Shari`ah board or council to operate and supervise the new instrument. Professor Mujahidul Islam, senior teacher and former chairman of the banking department of Dhaka University, said however, that this kind of bond was not popular with Islamic banks, financial institutions and people. He opined that this bond fund should be invested in power sector, water treatment plants and any other profitable and economically viable projects which contribute to the welfare of the country and accelerate the economy.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is stepping up efforts to assist member countries to use Islamic finance in areas such as infrastructure financing, ranging from technical assistance to providing credit guarantees. The Manila-based development lender sees Islamic finance as complementing its objectives to boost financial inclusion and promote financial stability. ADB had considered making a sukuk issuance of its own, but the focus is now on supporting member states’ use of sukuk for their public debt financing. AAA-rated ADB is also considering partial guarantees to boost the credit rating of sukuk from sovereign issuers.

The decision of State Bank of India (SBI) to put off the launch of a Shariah-compliant equity mutual fund has once again sparked debates on whether India should open doors to the concept of Islamic finance and facilitate a market for Shariah compliant financial products. The fund was designed to invest in Shariah compliant companies. Dinesh Kumar Khara, managing director and CEO of SBI Mutual Fund, said that SBI’s decision to defer the fund launch, originally planned in December, was a commercial call. On the other hand, Congress' member K Rahman Khan said in Parliament that the decision was due to political intervention.

Russian lawmakers have introduced to parliament a draft bill to support Islamic finance, aiming to attract capital inflows at a time when an economic slowdown is intensifying and Western sanctions show no sign of being lifted. The draft law, sent to parliament's lower house, the State Duma, this week, proposes allowing banks to engage in trade activities, a concept central to many of the structures used in sharia-compliant financial products. While many other obstacles remain, the bill is seen a first step to spur development of the sector. The draft law must pass three readings in the Duma before it moves to the upper house and then to President Vladimir Putin's desk to be signed into law.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the government of Jordan will begin work in the coming weeks on a debut issuance of Islamic bonds. In October, JICA signed an agreement with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), to develop its Islamic finance capability. Jordan is JICA's first target. JICA and ICD will start their joint technical assistance to the country within a month, Tetsutaro Kon, director in charge of Middle East operations at JICA, said. The consultation would continue over the next six months and address details such as currency and tenor of the sukuk.

Life insurer AIA Bhd sees a huge growth opportunity in the family takaful business and investment-linked products in Malaysia, a market viewed by the industry as being relatively under-insured compared with its more developed neighbours. To tap into this growth opportunity, chief executive officer Bill Lisle said that the group, which is in the midst of completing its integration with ING Group’s domestic insurance operations, plans to employ more full-time agents and leverage on new technology. He added that the company would leverage on its Point of Sale (iPoS) technology driven by iPad.

IdealRatings has launched of a Shari’ah compliant Asia-Pacific REITs Index, called the IdealRatings Asia-Pacific REITs Index, for the use of Fund Managers who are benchmarking REITs funds. For a start, the REITs Index will cover Asia-Pacific REITs and it will subsequently widen the coverage to include the entire global REITs universe. The market cap-weighted, free-float Index has a methodology to review the universe eligibility annually. The Shari’ah screening of the eligible universe takes place quarterly and the index is also re-balanced on quarterly basis. The IdealRatings Asia-Pacific REITs Index is calculated in US Dollars with REITs listed in Australia, Japan, Singapore and other countries.

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South Korea's Woori Bank, aimed at further strengthening co-operation and sharing business opportunities. The signing ceremony held in Doha was signed by QIB's group CEO Bassel Gamal and Lee Dong-Gun, deputy CEO of Woori Bank, and attended by senior executives from both the banks. The partnership is aimed at servicing both Qatari and South Korean entities that are currently engaged in business activities in Qatar and/or South Korea; and companies that are intending in the future to set up such type of business arrangements.

Indonesia’s Islamic insurance industry is expanding three times as fast as Malaysia’s, prompting American International Group Inc. and Sun Life Financial Inc. to seek a broader presence in the nation. AIG is considering offering retakaful in Indonesia in two years. The initiative would complement an Islamic insurance business it started in the Southeast Asian nation in 2010. Meanwhile, PT Sun Life Financial Indonesia will add to its 35 outlets in the country, while Reinsurer PT Reasuransi Internasional Indonesia plans to make all its branches fully Shariah-compliant. As Islamic insurance becomes more prominent, that should increase demand for Shariah-compliant bonds as insurers try to match liabilities with their investments.

Petronas has announced price guidance levels for an offering of US dollar bonds, which includes a sukuk tranche. The senior unsecured notes of seven, 10 and 30 years have been announced to yield around 150bp, 175bp and 220bp over US Treasuries, respectively. The sukuk of five years is being offered at a yield of around 135bp over US Treasuries and be in a Wakalah structure. The 144A/Reg S senior unsecured notes are expected to be rated on par with the company at A1/A- (Moody's/S&P). Bank of America Merrill Lynch, CIMB, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are the active joint bookrunners. Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Maybank and MUFG are passive bookrunners.

Two Islamic banks, Al Baraka and Al Shamal, are currently in talks with Russian credit organizations to enter their capital market. Both banks have been interested in the Russian market but had trouble trying to enter it independently due to a lack of regulations that let organizations work with Islamic banks and abide by their rules in Russia. The main sphere of their interests is corporate financing. First Vice President of Al Baraka bank Khalid Qattan confirmed in a comment that his institution was currently holding negotiations with several Russian banks, with no final agreements reached yet.

Japanese banks' Islamic finance capabilities could be boosted following a Financial Services Authority (FSA) consultation. The consultation, which runs until March 27, is expected to open the onshore sukuk market - a boost for Asia's largest domestic bond market. This proposal broadens the products that Japanese banks can offer. It will allow banks to provide Islamic finance services to their clients, so that they can lend in the forms of commodity murabahah andijarah. It also adds clarifications for banks to make certain investments in the forms of mudarabah andmusharakah as well as certain derivatives transactions.

RHB Islamic Bank Bhd has teamed up with Malaysian Technology Development Corp (MTDC) to provide financing for Bumiputera technology-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under the Bumiputera Expansion Fund (BEF) scheme. MTDC currently manages RM150 million fund for the BEF scheme via Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju). Under the pact, RHB Islamic will be the custodian of the fund, which will be placed in the bank’s commodity murabahah deposit-i account. The fund is expected to raise financing of at least RM300 million for eligible Bumiputera companies involved in biotechnology, green technology, nanotecnology and food technology.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has assigned its preliminary 'A-' issue rating to the proposed US-dollar-denominated Wakala trust certificates to be issued by Petronas Global Sukuk Ltd. Petronas Global Sukuk - a special-purpose company incorporated in Labuan for issuing sukuk trust certificates - will enter into a "Wakala" agreement with national oil corporation Petroliam Nasional Bhd. Under this agreement, the issuer will enter into an Ijara for at least 33 per cent of the issued amount and a Murabaha for at most 67 per cent of the issued amount with Petronas. S&P assesses remote the risks that a total loss event jeopardises the full and timely repayments of the trust certificates.

According to a report by the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM), the general insurance sector is set to record a 5.5 to 6 per cent increase in gross written premiums in 2015. The weaker local currency should help boost domestic consumption, despite global economic headwinds as revenues from oil and other commodities plummet. The government’s plans to maintain development spending should also promote growth, which in turn will see an increase in demand for insurance products. The new goods and services tax (GST) – to be introduced in April – is not expected to have a lasting impact on the sector, though it could slow growth over the next few months.

Japan's three megabanks are considering whether and how they will offer financial services under Islamic law overseas now that the Financial Services Agency will allow them to engage in such operations at their foreign branches starting as early as April. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group would offer deposit and lending services that are permissible under Sharia at its Dubai branch in the United Arab Emirates as early as fiscal 2015, pending approval from the local authorities. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. may offer similar services at its branches in Dubai and Singapore. Mizuho Financial Group likely will make its London branch the operational centre for Islamic finance in the Middle East.

A plan is being floated on a “marriage” between Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) and Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd. Sources say the idea of a merger between the two is being mooted at the shareholder level of both companies, namely the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH). A common factor the two companies have is Tan Sri Samsudin Osman, who is chairman of EPF and BIMB Holdings Bhd – Bank Islam’s listed parent company. BIMB wholly owns Bank Islam, which is its main income generator. Bankers say that if a merger is to take place, the EPF would be able to vote, unlike the situation in the failed merger with CIMB and RHB.

Indonesia's Bank Syariah Mandiri, a unit of state-owned Bank Mandiri, is targetting total assets worth 100 trillion rupiah ($7.72 billion) by 2017, up 49 percent from 67 trillion rupiah as of December, the Investor Daily newspaper reported, quoting Bank Syariah Mandiri finance director Agus Dwi Handaya.

Malaysia's $40 billion sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional plans to issue a sukuk worth up to one billion ringgit ($279.17 million) to help fund schools, its managing director Azman Mokhtar said. The planned "social impact sukuk" is awaiting regulatory approval from Malaysian financial regulators. The move is aimed at opening funding for education to a broad pool of investors rather than financing it out of its own reserves, he added. Mokhtar said a lot of charitable organisations, family offices and trusts wanted to participate in the fundraising and this had helped prompt Khazanah into setting up the sukuk rather than using its own money.