IslamicFinance.de

Iran Daily reported on 1 February that the director of Iran Privatization Organization (IPO) has said the organization plans to establish the first-ever cooperative development bank.

Frederik Richter reported on Arabianbusiness on 1 February that Gulf Finance House is looking for acquisitions of undervalued assets in the region.

Deputy Chief Executive Mehran Jamsheer was cited.

Waheed Abbas from Emirates 24/7 reported on 2 February about the regional investment bank and private equity company Millennium Finance Corporation (MFC), which aims to expands its reach to Saudi Arabia, India and Nigeria through joint ventures and acquiring licences. The firm is also considering IPO.

CEO is Keba Keinde, which gave an exclusive interview with Emirates Business. Please click on the source below.

Bank of London and the Middle East, or BLME, plans to launch at least three funds in 2009 targeting a US dollar based fixed income fund, a UK real estate distressed assets fund and an equities fund according to Adrian Gayler, the newly appointed head of private banking at BLME, told Zawya Dow Jones.

Rebecca Bundhun reported on Arabianbusiness on 29 January that Dubai Islamic Bank partners with Hawkamah Institute has signed a "founding member" sponsorship agreement with corporate governance organisation the Hawkamah Institute.

Business Times reported on 30 January PT Bank Negara Indonesia, the nation’s third-largest state financial services company, plans its first Islamic debt sale in Malaysia, president director Gatot Suwondo said.

Plans are about USD 50 mn, with a 5-year and 10-year maturity if the pricing is attractive.

The Scotsman reported on 29 January that SCOTTISH Widows Investment Partnership has launched a joint venture with Manar Financial Investment Company; Swip Saudi Asset Management. It will mainly focus on investment in the insurance sector, but will also manage shariah-compliant global emerging market equities.

Bahrain's Gulf Finance House has reported a Q4 loss of USD 10 mn after it made 'provisions on investments' compared with net income of USD 108.8 mn for the same period. Total year earnings are down to USD 291 mn (Dh 107 mn) in 2008 compared to USD 340 mn in 2007.

News Agency Bernama reported on 29 January that 3 new foreign Islamic fund management companies (IFMCs) have been approved by the Securities Commission to start operations in Malaysia:

The new companies are Aberdeen Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd, BNP Paribas Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd and Nomura Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd; the others who have been approved to establish operations are Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia), DBS Asset Management, CIMB-Principal Asset Management, Global Investment House and Reliance Asset Management.

Allianz Re has announced that Allianz SE Life Reinsurance Branch Labuan (ARLL), recently recieved regulatory approval to establish a separate fund to support the life and health retakaful business (Family Retakaful). As a branch office of Allianz SE, ARLL enjoys an S&P rating of "AA" and A.M.Best rating of "A ". ARLL will offer retakaful solutions to Family Takaful providers.

Shailesh Menon reported in Economic Times on 29 January that Benchmark Asset Management is launching a Shariah-compliant open-ended exchange traded fund. The scheme opens for subscription on February 4 and closes on February 25.

Rohit Chawdhry, portfolio manager of Bahrain Islamic Bank, analyses the issue of overbanking in the Gulf region and the institutions anticipating mergers in the February issue of The Middle East. He concludes that all state plans fostering project developments are not covered by a sufficiently large banking sector. The Institute of International Finance estimates there are about USD 1.9 trillion worth of projects under way in the region, making the GCC one of the largest project finance markets in the world. But analysts estimate that the present project finance, which includes bank lending, bond and equity issuance, has a funding shortfall of at least $900bn, if not more. To create banks which are able to shoulder a greater proportion of the financing needs of projects under construction, by state and private investors is the challenge of the policy makers.

Mustafa Abubakar reported in Daily Trust / Allafrica on 28 January that, The Kwara Commercial Micro Finance Bank is to offering Shari'ah compliant services and was officially commissioned in Ilorin on 27 January.

The bank will also offer other conventional banking services such as Micro loan, pay plus, small business loan and agricultural loan. The director of the bank Olayinka Blackshear said the state Governor Dr. Bukola Saraki in partnership with other interests took the initiative to facilitate the incorporation of the bank, in a bid to boost grassroots economy.

Press Release

PARIS (Standard & Poor's) Jan. 28, 2009--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it affirmed its 'BBB-/A-3' ratings on Shamil Bank of Bahrain. The outlook on the ratings remains negative. The ratings were subsequently withdrawn at the bank's request.

As a result of the withdrawal, Shamil will no longer be subject to Standard & Poor's review. At the moment of the ratings withdrawal, the bank had no rated debt outstanding.

Nevzat Devranoglu and Thomas Grove reported on 28 January on Reuters that theTurkish Treasury sold only a quarter of an expected YTL 1.89 bn in its first issue of an income-indexed bond, considered a type of Islamic bond, as it attempts to boost capital inflows by tapping the Gulf region.

Press Release

PARIS (Standard & Poor's) Jan. 28, 2009--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has lowered its long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings on Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank B.S.C. to 'BB+/B' from 'BBB/A-2' and placed the long-term rating on CreditWatch with negative implications.

"The downgrade and CreditWatch placement reflect our opinion of Arcapita's weak liquidity profile amid an increasingly difficult operating environment," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Mohamed Damak.

At the same time, we believe that the value of Arcapita's own investments--mainly in private equity and real estate--could decline in value given current market conditions (like other private equity firms). We view Arcapita's leverage as high. We understand that Arcapita made certain investments in 2008 that it was not able to fully place with customers that triggered a decline in liquidity and an increase in investment leverage (as measured by the ratio of total investments to total equity).

Indonesia has set a coupon rate of 12 % for its first 3-year retail Sukuk, which is due to be issued on Feb. 25 according to the ministry of finance.

Amlak Finance, the mortgage financer will consider job cuts at its board meeting on 31 January the company announced in a statement along to discuss the merger proceedings with Tamweel and earnings. Amlak and Tamweel will be both taken over by Abu-Dhbai based Real Estate Bank, merge with the Emirates Industrial Bank under the new name Emirates Development Bank according to reporting by the state news agency WAM in November.

ALAFCO Aviation Lease And Finance Company released their Financial Results as published on Zawya on 27 January. Ahmad A. Alzabin announced that the operating profit of the company during the 1st quarter of the current fiscal year that ended 31 December 2008 reached KD 3 million, and that ALAFCOearned a net profit of KD 1.45 mn. The company's assets reached KD 281.21 mn and shareholders equity reached KD 82.29 mn during the quarter.

Shanthy Nambiar and Farhan Sharif reported on Bloomberg, 27 January, that Pakistan's Islamic banks plan to expand their network of outlets this year to take advantage of rising demand for Shariah-compliant financing according to Pervez Said, director of Islamic banking at the State Bank of Pakistan. These banks have 500 branches, after adding 210 outlets last year. Pakistan is promoting growth in Islamic finance to expand the reach of the banking sector which has less than 25 million deposit accounts. Shariah-compliant facilities are forecast to rise to 277 billion rupees ($3.5 billion) this year from 185 billion in 2008, according to central bank data.