IslamicFinance.de

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), in cooperation with the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), has announced Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG) as the women’s empowerment partner for Islamic Banking for the year-long campaign to celebrate and promote the role of women in the financial and banking sector. The year-long campaign has already featured a series of events, including a number of roundtable and town hall sessions that have brought industry leaders and women of all levels within the sector together to discuss and debate topics of importance. These events culminate with the main Women in the Financial and Banking Sector Conference being held on Nov. 30, at the Four Seasons Hotel, Bahrain Bay.

Iran and Azerbaijan discuss creation of a joint bank and the opening of branches of the two countries' banks in Baku and Tehran. There is a branch of Bank Melli Iran in Azerbaijan, but it is not active, Iran's Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi said, adding that preliminary talks on these issues were already held. Branches of the new bank will operate in both Azerbaijan and Iran.

Jahangir Siddiqui and Company is going to increase its stake in BankIslami Pakistan by at least 7.4% in coming weeks. According to a note sent out to members of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on Tuesday, the board of Jahangir Siddiqui and Company has decided to make a long-term equity investment of Rs749.3 million in BankIslami by purchasing 74.9 million shares from Dubai Bank PJSC at Rs10 per share. The shareholding of Jahangir Siddiqui and Company in BankIslami was 21.2% as on June 30. The total stake of the financial conglomerate in the Islamic lender will stand at 28.7% in case the company’s shareholders approve the equity investment decision taken by the board.

Helped by growing awareness of Sharia’a-compliant banking services and increasing number of branches, the Islamic banking sector in the sultanate recorded robust growth during the first half of 2015. The combined assets of the sector surged 64 per cent to RO1.83bn as of June 30, 2015 against RO1.11bn a year ago. Islamic banking now accounts for 6.3 per cent of the total banking assets in Oman. Total financing by Islamic banks and windows jumped by 85 per cent to RO1.38bn from RO745mn. Oman's Islamic banking sector comprises two fully-fledged Islamic banks (Bank Nizwa and alizz islamic bank) and six Islamic banking windows of locally incorporated commercial banks.

In Turkey almost all businesses are micro, small or medium-sized enterprises (MSME), and only 0.1 percent of businesses are large firms. MSME lending constitutes a significant share of banks’ lending – it was 26% of the total banks’ portfolio in 2013, including 7% extended to microenterprises, despite the naturally much smaller average loan amounts. There are several barriers preventing Turkish banks from increasing their lending to microenterprises, despite an interest in reaching further down market. One such barrier is the high level of informality and semi-formality in the micro-segment of the Turkish MSME sector. Turkey has no dedicated microfinance sector of a significant scale.

With the age-old funding challenges that Small, Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) have to contend with and the steady ascendancy of non-interest banking, analysts x-ray the possibility of Islamic banking bridging the funding gap in the SME sector, writes Olaseni Durojaiye. Reacting to enquiries on capital markets as a source of access to fund by SMEs, Chief Executive Officer of Global Analytics Derivatives, Tope Fasua, had contended that the Nigeria Capital Market was not accustomed to providing financing for SMEs at the present and argued that this may be due to issues bordering on sharp practices on the part of some of the listed corporation and companies in the bourse.

The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with FPCCI Standing Committee on Islamic Banking and Takaful organised a seminar on Islamic banking. Speaking at the occasion, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Muzzamil Hussain Sabri said that there should be full-fledged Islamic banks on micro finance to support SMEs as currently no Islamic bank was focusing on SMEs with better products. He stressed that the branches of Islamic banks should be enhanced in the country to provide more consumer outreach as the insufficient branch network and lack of awareness in general masses were the major hurdle in the growth of Islamic banking.

Seychelles-registered Bank of Muscat International Offshore (BMIO) is considering introducing Islamic finance to the 115-island country. The Al Salam Bank of Bahrain, which owns 50% of shares in BMIO, is talking with the Seychelles authorities about future plans following the recent approval of BMIO’s reorganisation. Details of the reorganisation are complex, but the governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles, Caroline Abel, says it took about 8 months for everything to complete. An Al Salam delegation was in the country in July to talk about making BMIO a Shari’ah-compliant bank.

Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt is currently negotiating with four real estate investment firms to take part in the central bank's social housing initiative, Product Manager-Mortgage Unit Mahmoud Idris said. Idris stated that the bank is to sign a protocol with one of those companies this week. He refused to reveal the names of the four firms before finishing the agreements. In 2014, Egypt's Central Bank (CBE) launched a new initiative worth 10 billion Egyptian pounds (US$1.4 billion) to stimulate the mortgage sector.

Bank Sohar has appointed Salim Khamis Al Maskari, the former senior assistant general manager of branches, as the head of Sohar Islamic, Bank Sohar’s Islamic banking window. Prior to joining Bank Sohar in 2007, Salim Al Maskari had worked as the district manager of the Sharquiyah region for Oman International Bank and later moved to Bank Muscat as the regional manager of the north capital region. He has more than 29 years of experience in the banking sector in Oman and holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Hull, UK. He also completed his Certification in Islamic Banking and Takaful Products (CIMA) examinations in 2015.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPCCI) have announced to constitute an Islamic banking standing committee. The announcement was made by KPCCI president, Faud Ishaq while speaking at a seminar on 'Islamic banking and Takaful'. Faud Ishaq said the proposed committee will play vital role for provision interest-free banking facilities to business community as per Islamic code and sharia. He urged the Central bank to take measures for promotion of Islamic banking in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. KPCCI chief expressed satisfaction over 30 to 40 per cent growth in Islamic Banking by State Bank of Pakistan during last six years across the country.

Barwa Bank has promoted Talal Ahmad Al Khaja (pictured) to Chief Communications officer. Al Khaja will oversee marketing and communications and public and shareholder relations. Prior to joining the bank in 2009, he worked across private sector institutions and organisations. Holding a Master’s in business management, a bachelor’s degree from Qatar University, and professional certifications, he has amassed over nine years’ experience in administration, marketing, public relations and corporate governance. During his tenure at the bank, he has contributed to acquisitions of the group’s affiliate companies and subscription management in capital financing in 2011. His efforts led to the establishment of the group’s Investor and Shareholder Relations Department.

The growing number of dismissals at the recently seized Islamic lender Bank Asya has drawn a reaction from the Pak Finance Employees Union (Pak Finans-??), which announced it would file complaints against the layoffs and demand that those dismissed be reinstated. In a written statement on Friday, Pak Finans-?? said nine regional managers, 13 branch managers, two directors and 264 workers have been laid off since Feb. 3. In the latest of what the union calls politically motivated decisions, three managerial-level employees were dismissed on Wednesday, the statement read. The common denominator of those discharged from the bank is that they all refused to overlook irregularities and criminal practices that had been ordered by the managing board.

Fresh off the back of a strong first-half performance to the year, Qatar International Islamic Bank’s Chief Executive Officer and director Abdulbasit Ahmad Al-Shaibei is basking in a bumper era of growth. The bank has seen its profits grow by around 4-17 per cent every year since 2010 and, if the first six months of this year are any indication, 2015 should maintain the positive run. QIIB announced a net profit of 438 million riyals ($120.3 million) for the first half of the year, a 9 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2014. Al-Shaibei is seeing opportunity for further growth in some unconventional places.

Shariah- based funding is available now to support viable green technology projects, says Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd Managing Director Datuk Seri Zukri Samat. He said the bank would use every opportunity to promote Shariah-based financial products and services for project financing transactions, in line with the government's aim of establishing Malaysia as a leader in Islamic finance. Zukri said Bank Islam had completed the project financing transaction exercise for Kerian Energy via the syndicated Islamic financing facilities of RM121.44 million under the Shariah principle of Tawarruq. He also said the bank was looking towards re-balancing its consumer banking and corporate banking portfolio at a ratio of 70:30 by year-end.

After delivering strong results in 2014, Islamic banks in the Gulf region face a gradually weakening operating outlook in 2015-2016, largely due to declining oil revenues, says a report published today by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. But as the report, titled "Gulf-Based Islamic Banks Grapple With Weakening Regional Economies," also points out, we believe investor demand for Sharia-compliant products and supportive government actions will enable Islamic banks in the region to continue to grow. In S&P's opinion, the two most important factors influencing the Islamic banks' faster growth are an increasing demand for both retail and corporate Sharia-compliant banking products and government initiatives designed to support Islamic finance.

Amãna Bank, a Sri Lankan bank operating on the non-interest based Islamic banking model, made a net profit of 47.5 million rupees in the June 2015 quarter against a loss of 85.6 million rupees a year ago. Financing income rose 15 percent to 676 million rupees while expenses rose 7.3 percent to 330 million rupees resulting in net financing income rising 24 percent to 346 million rupees during the period. Earnings per share of Amãna Bank were four cents in the quarter. Net fee and commission income rose 16 percent to 38 million rupees. Amãna Bank’s total assets were up 15 percent to 40 billion rupees as at 30 June 2015 from 31 December 2014 while total deposits rose 13 percent to 33 billion rupees.

GFH Financial Group has announced its financial results for the first half of 2015 ended June 30, 2015. For the first six months of 2015, the Group reported a net profit of US$13.6 million compared with US$14.8 million during the prior year period. Net profit for the second quarter of 2015 was US$7.6 million versus US$12.4 million reported in the second quarter of 2014. Last year's results included a one-off income of US$33 million as a result of a recovery. Excluding this one-off gain, net profit for the first six months of 2015 increased to US$13.6 million compared to a loss of US$18.2 million for the prior year period.

After delivering strong results in 2014, Islamic banks in the Gulf face a gradually weakening operating outlook in 2015-2016, largely due to declining oil revenues, says a report published today by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. But as the report, titled Gulf-Based Islamic Banks Grapple With Weakening Regional Economies, also points out, Standard & Poor’s believes investor demand for Shari’ah-compliant products and supportive government actions will enable Islamic banks in the region to continue to grow and gradually increase their market share. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates continue to offer the strongest growth opportunities in the GCC region.

Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group B.S.C (ABG) announced a net profit of US$ 150 million for the first half of 2015, reporting an increase of 5% over the net profit of the same period of last year, while the net income of the second quarter of 2015 reached US$ 82 million, increasing by 19% over the net income of the first quarter of 2015. The balance sheet items achieved moderate increases, as total assets increased by 2%, total financing and investments by 2% and customer accounts by 1% at the end of June 2015 compared to the end December 2014. During the first half of 2015, the premier rating agency in the world Standard & Poors’ (S&P) had re-affirmed ABG’s rating of BB+ (long term) and B (Short term), upgrading the Outlook to Stable.