IslamicFinance.de

Turkey is one of the largest upper middle-income countries with a vast potential to expand financial inclusion. A closer look at the data reveals that the progress regarding account ownership among women has been paralleled by an equally steep (and frankly, perplexing) decrease of account ownership among men (from 82% to 69%). Similarly, while borrowing from a financial institution has more than quadrupled and is more than six times higher for women than it was in 2011 (albeit starting from an extremely low level of 2.4%). What can be said with some confidence, however, is that there is room for improvement, as the overall account ownership remained unchanged.

Momentum is building for economic relations between the Gulf States and Turkey, economists say. Turkey can increase the existing trade volume with the Gulf States by setting sector-based targets and by taking advantage of international conditions, according to Sedat Kutlu, an expert with the Turkish Arab Countries Businessmen’s Association. Exports and imports can open access to a broad base of businesspeople, The Economist Intelligence Unit noted in a July report that Turkey is developing as an increasingly important economic partner for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) countries. Trade volume between Turkey and the GCC was close to $16 billion in 2014, according to EIU statistics, up from about $5 billion in 2005.

Syria now has one of the lowest education rates in the world. A 2015 Save the Children report estimates that 2.8 million Syrian children are not attending school and a quarter of school buildings have been damaged or destroyed. Many youth must forego education and work to help their families survive. Yet what often gets lost in this picture is the resilience shown by many young Syrians and their determination to play a role in building a better Syria. The Syrian Economic Forum (SEF) is helping Syria’s youth to play an active role in society through a CIPE-supported course for recent high school graduates that provides an immersion in entrepreneurship, leadership, and civic skills.

Kuwait Finance House plans to shed its stake in education investment company Nafais Holding. KFH is currently restructuring its activities, which could also include a sale of assets such as its Malaysian business. This is ahead of planned divestments by its largest shareholder, the Kuwait Investment Authority. The Islamic bank is the second-largest shareholder in Nafais with a 19.01 percent stake. Nafais, involved in education, healthcare, financing and investment, has a market capitalisation of around $206 million, which would value the bank's stake at close to $40 million. The Islamic bank only acquired the Nafais stake in March 2014 from Aref Group Company.

In 2013, a 26-year-old Syrian called Dishad Othman built a system to warn his countrymen when a Scud missile launched by the regime was headed their way. The system, called Aymta, calculated the trajectory and likely arrival time, and sent mobile alerts to registered civilians inside the strike zone. Aymta is part of the fledgling field of Peacetech, which applies technology, media tools, and data science to the cause of reducing violent conflict around the globe. Both conflict prevention and peacebuilding have been fields of academic study and practical application since the 1970s but technology has rarely played a part in either. Sheldon Himelfarb, President and CEO of PeaceTech Lab, thinks it should.

The rise of Islamic finance and sukuk issuances have brought with it a growing phenomenon: Shariah banking is increasingly taking advantage of offshore banking jurisdictions. Many offshore centres around the world meanwhile offer a wide range of features allowing Shariah principles to be upheld when creating Islamic financial products. Many offshore jurisdictions also offer multiple other benefits such as low income, capital gains, profit or withholding taxes or no taxes at all, no restrictions on foreign exchange or foreign ownership, experienced service providers and operational support. Offshore financial centres that since have attracted Islamic finance are, among others, Cayman Islands, Jersey, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Labuan in Malaysia.

The Egyptian Islamic Finance Association (EIFA) obtained the licence from Bahrain-based Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), EIFA's Chairman Mohamed Al-Beltagy said. By this licence, the association is capable of conducting accreditation tests for bankers and auditors of Islamic banking on behalf of AAOIFI in Egypt, the chairman stated. A number of bankers have already applied to conduct the accreditation tests, he added. The Bahraini organization will provide the necessary training for the bankers and auditors before conducting the test. Passing the accreditation tests is considered as an international accreditation for those who work in the field of Islamic banking.

Khalid Alsweilem, a former senior official at Saudi Arabia's central bank says he believes the kingdom may soon change the way it manages its oil wealth as part of efforts to protect its financial reserves in an era of cheap crude. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency ( SAMA ) manages the vast bulk of petrodollars earned by the world's top oil exporting country; net foreign assets at the central bank totalled $664.5 billion in June. Alsweilem, who managed the assets as chief investment officer at SAMA , argues the arrangement is dangerous because the finance ministry can draw freely on the reserves when it wants to cover budget deficits caused by periods of low oil prices.

One of Cullen Roche's major criticisms of Thomas Piketty’s blockbuster book on wealth inequality was that it didn’t highlight the global effect of inequality well enough. For instance, it didn’t note that global poverty has declined substantially over the last 75 years. He wrote that in a global sense, one could argue that the rise of the developed world and its accompanying wealth explosion has been an instrumental driver in helping to bring the emerging world out of substantial poverty. Over 1 billion people have been brought out of extreme poverty in the last 20 years alone. Capitalism has plenty of weaknesses, but the fact is that this system has also done a tremendous amount of good for the world.

Rating agency Standard and Poor's says regulation and fiscal incentives could speed Islamic finance development in Africa. The report further noted that African sovereigns have issued only about $1 billion of Sukuk instruments, compared with global Sukuk issuance of an average $100 billion per year over the past five years. Samira Mensah, an associate director at Standard and Poor's joins CNBC Africa to share more insight on this report. Watch the video on http://www.cnbcafrica.com/video/?bctid=4413568917001#.

Market Research Reports, Inc. has published the research report “Challenges and Opportunities for the Wealth Sector in Saudi Arabia 2015” on their website http://www.MarketResearchReports.com. The report focuses on HNWI performance between the end of 2010 and the end of 2014. This enables us to determine how well the country's high net worth individuals (HNWI) have performed through the crisis. This report is a thorough analysis of Saudi Arabia's Wealth Management and Private Banking sector, and the opportunities and challenges that it faces. The report also includes comprehensive forecasts to 2019.

Malaysia’s benchmark Islamic borrowing costs are seen rising to a record as global investors exit the nation’s government and corporate bonds at the fastest pace in three years. The yield has climbed 16 basis points to 4.20 percent since July 3, when a Wall Street Journal report into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s finances plunged the country into political turmoil. Manulife Asset Management Services Bhd. says the unprecedented 4.5 percent is in sight this year, compounded by falling commodity prices and a potential U.S. interest-rate increase. Pheim Asset Management Asia Bhd. also sees that level being reached as the ringgit slides.

Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB) has signed a strategic partnership with Russia-based Islamic Business and Finance Development Fund (IBFD Fund) to become its Official Sharia Advisory Partner. Under the agreement, IBFD Fund’s partnership will leverage SRB’s extensive Shari’a consultation footprint and scholarly network to promote, upgrade and administer Russian financial establishments to set up Sharia compliant funds and transactions. Alongside the Sharia Advisory activities, the engagement will see SRB focus on developing and building its scholarly capabilities in the Russian language while IBFD Fund will add promotional service locations to its existing network as well as increasing their overall capabilities. The partnership will also strengthen credibility between CIS and GCC countries in the domain of Islamic finance.

Banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council are starting to realize that if they want to capture more female customers then they need to recruit more female bankers. Samina Akram is helping empower women in Islamic Finance, running a London-based consulting firm based on Shariah-compliant finance after years running Merrill Lynch's Islamic finance wealth management business. The wheels are turning a little faster for women in the boardroom, according to leadership consulting firm Heidrick & Struggles. Its recent Board Monitor report showed that of 339 new directors appointed to Fortune 500 boardrooms in 2014, 99 were women.

Iran’s $415 billion economy is the second-largest in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia. Unveiling his nation’s economic plan for the next five years, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last month that Iran must aspire to average annual growth of 8 percent. The economy may grow 4 percent this Iranian financial year, double the pace expected before the nuclear deal, according to the deputy governor of Iran’s central bank. An OPEC member, Iran holds 10 percent of the world’s oil reserves. Revenue from crude sales represents just 15 percent of Iran’s GDP. Investors may prefer the car industry, manufacturing, energy and agriculture.

Malaysia fund house Maybank Asset Management has chosen Standard Chartered as its trustee for the first sharia-compliant fund that has been approved for Asean passporting. The Maybank Bosera Greater China Asean Equity I-Fund was approved by the Securities Commission of Malaysia for distribution under the Asean Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) in March. The fund was subsequently launched for sale in the Malaysian market in April. Maybank AM has two funds from its Singapore office that are also waiting to be passported in Malaysia and Thailand. But the contract with StanChart only covers Maybank AM Malaysia.

The Supreme Council for Women (SCW)’s general secretariat held a meeting with Al Salam Bank Bahrain during which the two sides explored means of activating the National Model for the inclusion of women’s needs in banking. The meeting also explored provision of policy and ancillary services for women in the workplace. This included a nursery for children of bank employees after a feasibility study by the bank to determine its need and support for recruitment of handicapped people in financial and banking institutions. The meeting discussed challenges facing women in assuming leading posts and cultural and social issues, especially women’s night-time office duty and their aspirations in career progression.

After years of consultation, discussion, and debate, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) that will guide development efforts for the foreseeable future are close to becoming a reality — meaning a global commitment to end poverty in all its forms everywhere and eliminating extreme poverty entirely by 2030. The Financing for Development (FfD) conference met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia earlier this month to try to reach an agreement on the right mix of development aid, taxes, loans, trade, and private investment to pay for the ambitious agenda set out in the SDGs. The trillion dollar question is perhaps if we can most effectively unleash the full potential of the global economy in an inclusive, transparent, and collaborative way.

GFH has announced to its shareholders and the markets that, in line with its extraordinary general meeting’s approval obtained on April 12, it has completed the formalities with the relevant authorities for changing its commercial name. Accordingly, the name has officially been changed from Gulf Finance House to ‘GFH Financial Group BSC’ starting on July 30th. The Islamic investment bank is based in Bahrain and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2007. The company also holds a 25 per cent stake in Leeds United, a Football League Championship club through its wholly owned subsidiary, the Dubai-based GFH Capital.

Muslim investors have been urged to pour money into major British construction projects as David Cameron revealed a catalogue of sharia-compliant opportunities. UK Trade and Investment has produced a "pitch book" containing details of 18 projects which comply with the strict conditions of Islamic law. A total of £17 billion of projects are included in the document, with schemes including a transport upgrade project in Leeds, the regeneration of Slough town centre and housing developments in Manchester. At a lavish reception in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Cameron set out his vision of making the UK a centre for Islamic finance.