IslamicFinance.de

Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) is on track to obtaining a full-fledged Islamic banking licence, that will come together through a merger with Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd. Plans were being laid out to realise MBSB’s goal to get a full-fledged Islamic banking licence. This comes seven months after news-grabbing three-way merger between MBSB, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and RHB Capital Bhd fell through in January. In May this year, MBSB was reportedly eyeing Kuwait Finance House (M) Bhd as an option for a merger exercise. One of MBSB’s setbacks as a non-conventional bank is its inability to tap low-cost funds from the money market that are accessible to conventional banks.

Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB) has realised BHD 8.2 million as net income for the six month period ended 30 June 2015, compared to BHD 4.0 million for the same period last year, an increase of 105 per cent. The Bank has reported for the three months ended 30 June 2015 net income of BHD 5.1 million compared to BHD 1.5 million for the same period last year while gross income reached BHD 11.2 million as compared to BHD 7.8 million for the same period last year. Total expenses for the three months period ended 30 June 2015 remained the same at BHD 5.3 million. Net provisions for the three months ended 30 June 2015 amounted to BHD 786 thousand as compared to BHD 1 million for the same period last year.

Dubai Islamic Bank will reportedly advise Pakistan on selling its 40 per cent stake in Kot Addu Power Company (Kapco) as the country’s economic upsurge lifted its benchmark stock market index to a record this month. The emirate’s biggest Sharia-compliant lender would lead an advisory group that includes Deloitte, Lummus Consultants International, and Mohsin Tayebaly and Company. Pakistan has rejuvenated its economy in recent years after the IMF provided a US$6.6 billion bailout loan in 2013. The country, a net energy importer, is also set to gain from the collapse in oil prices and China’s $46bn investment plan to build transport infrastructure connecting the two countries.

The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) yesterday requested Islami Bank Bangladesh, the financier of Swan Garments, to further lend Tk 1.39 crore to the apparel maker so that it can clear one month's salaries of its workers. Both the DIFE and the bank had been in trouble finding a successor of the company after the death of its Chinese owner, Ming Yuen Hon (Toby), in April. Disputes over the ownership have to be settled to resume operations of Swan Garments, and if Islami Bank wants to continue financing, it will need permission from the central bank as the company's loans have already been classified.

The central bank's decision not to allow conventional banks to convert into Islamic banks has frustrated half a dozen lenders. Even conventional banks, which were earlier permitted to open branches or windows for Islamic banking, are not allowed to do it anymore. Bangladesh Bank will not entertain their demand, SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, said yesterday. The banks that are now awaiting the licence to become Islamic Shariah-based banks should have taken their original permits as Islamic banks instead of conventional ones, he said. Some of the applications have been pending for more than two years now.

Islami Bank Bangladesh has moved 16 notches up to rank 954th in 2015 among the top 1,000 banks of the world by The Banker magazine of the UK. The bank ranked 970th in 2014 and 1,000th in 2012, the bank said in a statement. Besides, the bank has been ranked 70th, 250th, 791st and 785th considering return on capital, return on assets, capital assets ratio and amount of assets of the bank respectively, according to the statement. The Banker conducts a rating of the top 1,000 global banks since 1790. The magazine publishes the list in July every year on the basis of data and evaluation of more than 5,000 leading banks from 163 countries.

Warba Bank has recently introduced the new BCT service representing a trading platform for domestic and international commodities. This comes within the framework of the efforts of the Retail Banking Group in providing special services and products to customers in personal finance in accordance with the rules of Islamic Shari’ah and rules of retail finance services.

Banks surpassed the agricultural credit disbursement target set by the SBP’s Agricultural Credit Advisory Committee (ACAC) for the year ending June 2015. Against the indicative target of Rs 500 billion (which was 28 percent higher than the actual agri credit disbursement of Rs.391 billion in FY14), banks disbursed Rs 515.9 billion in FY15, which was Rs 15.9 billion in excess of the target and 31.8 percent higher than the last year’s disbursement of Rs 391.4 billion, said State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in a statement. Growth was also recorded in the agri outstanding portfolio which stood at Rs 335.2 billion at end June, 2015.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has agreed a € 76 million medium-term refinancing facility for Sedco Capital, advised by LaSalle Investment Management, for a mixed-use portfolio located predominately in Berlin. pbb is acting as sole lender and hedge provider for the facility. The mixed-use portfolio consists of eight German assets with a total lettable area of 65,770 sqm. Four of the largest assets, in terms of value, are located in Berlin and represent 75% of the portfolio's value.

Standard Chartered Plc has selected global head of audit Julian Wynter as its chief executive officer for the United Arab Emirates. Wynter’s appointment has yet to be announced officially. Wynter, based in London and previously CEO of the bank’s Malaysian business, will replace Mohsin Nathani, who resigned in April. The bank has also appointed Sohail Akbar as CEO of its Islamic banking unit, known as Saadiq. Akbar is currently based in Malaysia as group chief operating officer of consumer banking and group Islamic banking. Standard Chartered is experiencing a management exodus after Bill Winters took over as CEO from Peter Sands last month.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank's (ADIB) 504 million dirham ($137.2 million) rights offer will begin on Aug. 23, after shareholders approved the capital-raising plan. The lender will issue 168 million new shares in order to support its growth. The issue price is 3.0 dirhams. Each existing shareholder will have the right to subscribe to 56 new shares for every 1,000 shares held at the end of trading on Aug. 13. Subscriptions will start on Aug. 23 and end on Sept. 10. ADIB posted a 10.5 rise in its second-quarter net profit on Wednesday, beating analysts' estimates as fee income grew.

Al Hilal Bank has reshuffled its board after the abrupt departure of its chairman and chief executive within a week of each other. The Abu Dhabi-based Islamic bank said a new board had been appointed under the chairmanship of Mohamed Abdullah Al Rumaithi, following the resignation of the former chairman Ahmed Ateeq Al Mazrouei on Monday. Mr Mazrouei’s decision to quit came just a week after the resignation of the chief executive Mohamed Jamil Berro. Sarie Asaad Arar, previously the bank’s chief business officer, was appointed last week as the acting chief executive. The bank said both resignations were for “personal reasons”, declining to give details.

The German and Iranian governments have decided to establish a joint banking committee. Officials from Berlin and Tehran will come together in September for the first meeting of the committee. The decision came after Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. together with Germany came to an understanding in the nuclear negotiations on July 14. Additionally, the U.N. Security Council unanimously accepted the draft resolution, which approves the nuclear agreement and stipulates the U.N. sanctions on Iran will be gradually lifted. $700 million of Iran's frozen assets abroad will be released every month after the sanctions are lifted. It is estimated that the total amount is around $150 billion.

The chairman of Abu Dhabi's government-owned Al Hilal Bank has resigned, a week after the chief executive quit. Ahmed Ateeq al-Mazrouei, chairman since 2008, has left for personal reasons. Senior board member Mohamed Abdullah al-Rumaithi has been appointed to succeed him. Last week Al Hilal's chief executive Mohamed Jamil Berro resigned, also citing personal reasons, after seven years with the bank. Al Hilal's profit for 2014 plunged to 90 million dirhams ($24.5 million) from 442 million dirhams in 2013 because of large loan impairments, according to the lender's latest financial statement. The bank's total assets grew to 41.4 billion dirhams from 38.7 billion dirhams.

Warba Bank reported a net profit growth of 633 per cent to reach KWD 315,000 for the first half of 2015 compared to KWD 43,000 for the first six months of 2014. Total income grew by 37 per cent to reach KWD 11.17 million. The strong operating performance was supported by all business units within the bank. As at June 30, 2015, Warba Bank’s total assets increased 30 per cent to reach KWD 645 million as a result of the bank’s aggressive geographical expansion strategy in local and regional markets, combined with investments in low-risk and high quality assets. The bank’s financing portfolio has also showed a growth of 50 per cent to reach KWD 457 million compared to the first half of 2014. This enabled the bank’s default finances ratio to reach 0.24 per cent.

Kuwait Turkey Bank (Kuveyt Turk) opened a branch in the German city of Frankfurt on Tuesday to be the first Islamic financial institution in the Eurozone. Hamad Al-Marzouq, Board Chairman of Kuwait Finance House (KFH), which owns the largest share in Kuveyt Turk, said he was proud to see the first Islamic bank operational in the eurozone. Kuveyt Turk seeks to encourage five million Muslims as well as non-Muslim clients in Germany to use the bank's services, he said. Kuveyt Turk was active in the German market since 2004 but was only capable of practicing partial banking operation in 2010. It was allowed to carry out full banking services in Germany last year.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) CEO Tirad Mahmoud said the bank was seeking to invest in Islamic banking in Morocco. ADIB has applied for approval from the Morrocan Central Bank for approval to invest in participatory banking in Morocco by 2016. Back in March this year, Abdellatif Jouahri, Governor of Bank Al Maghrib, had announced 2016 as the year of commencement of operations of the first participation banks in the Kingdom. ADIB has also filed applications for licenses in Algeria, Libya and Tunisia, said Tirad Mahmoud. Emirates Islamic has also filed an application with the Central Bank while Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group is working in a joint venture with BMCE Bank to offer Shari’ah-compliant financial solutions.

The National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), the lead government agency tasked to spearhead the Philippine Halal industry, in partnership with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), is now pushing for a new legislation on Islamic banking. Secretary Yasmin Busran-Lao of NCMF told reporters Wednesday at the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the first Mindanao Halal Festival that they are now furnishing the draft of a bigger legal framework for Islamic banking. She said that part of the plan is the conversion of Al Ahmana bank in the Philippines to a fully Shari'ah compliant bank.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and BankIslami have clarified a news story titled “SBP grants Rs20b to BankIslami”. The SBP said it is a normal practice for central banks to provide funds to banks whenever they are under liquidity stress or to meet unexpected deposit withdrawal requests. Liquidity support up to Rs15 billion was offered to BankIslami in anticipation of heavy withdrawal by the depositors of defunct KASB Bank after its amalgamation with the former. This facility, valid for 180 days, is fully secured by the sukuk held by BankIslami. BankIslami said the support it received from the SBP had been used to pay off the depositors of KASB Bank, which to date amounted to more than Rs22 billion.

Abu Dhabi-headquartered Shariah-compliant lender Al Hilal Bank has announced resignation of Mohamed Jamil Berro as the CEO, a position he has held since the bank’s establishment in 2008. Berro explained that his resignation is due to personal reasons. The bank’s Board of Directors further revealed that Sarie Asaad Arar will be appointed as Acting Group CEO, who currently holds the position of Chief Business Officer at Al Hilal Bank, and possess over 25 years of banking experience in the UAE.